Happy New Year

Once more
around the sun;
please keep
your windows open
to hear
all the shouting.

I promise,
there will be
as much
as last year.

In fact
there will be 
more. If only
you’d stopped
to hear it
even once
this last year,
it might
have been different:
too late now.
This year
might already be
too late. 
We shall see.

So: go
with open windows
into it,
and listen for
the wailing,
the crying out.
Maybe even
commit to getting
out of
the car and
helping once
in a while?

It couldn’t hurt
to step into it
now and again 
and try to help.
To at least
act like we care,

to at least
do something different, anything
other than driving by 
with the windows up
like it doesn’t matter.
to us — 
as we did last year.
As we do.