A Hard Beginning

A Hard Beginning The cough continues. My head... aches, but there are needles in my eyes, that will not stop poking my lids. Everything hurts today, that did not hurt yesterday. Today all things that hurt yesterday, have found new purpose in their vendetta against me. It is hard to be sick, especially when there are things to do. I want to go and dance and play. I want to sing, where no one can hear me, so I can be loud and strong, about my emotions. That, without hurting the feelings of others, I could belt out my favorite tune. Yet, here I am coughing into my elbow, wishing that my rib cage would quit, rattling. It is just a cold, but it has traveled badly, down into my chest, far and deep. I wish that I had listened, about wearing my coat, to the New Years Ice Skating Contest, at the North Pole. The place was so pretty, and the magic all real, that I could not face the idea, of covering up, instead... I swam with the penguins, visiting from the south. I talked to the mammoth bear, from Alaska, and arm wrestled for an hour. I swam in the punch, lifted the whole reindeer gang, up on the end of a candy cane, spinning in the storm, of snowflakes... started by the windmill, made from holly and grape vines of candy. I will never forget and neither will they. We flew two states over in a jet, skied from Mt Hood past the fence, where they keep the ashes. Gray still from a long time ago. My cough did not gain a grip on me, until the helicopter landed. Then it was too late, to put on my coat, do the right thing and go home early. The best New Year, sometimes starts with a rough patch, but the rest is all garden parties and politics from here. Prayers for your day, the first day, of the new year, the last chance to say goodbye, and try to be okay with tomorrow.