Poem

MILLENNIUM

by

Nick Carding  

Suddenly the second hand sweeps past perihelion
And everything, we are told, has changed.
We are now in a new year, a new decade,
Another century unlike the one we’ve known
And more than that, a new millennium.
Acknowledging this trek of time
A Russian president has unexpectedly resigned
In favour of a younger clone (as though we care)
And in New Zealand the birth has been announced
Of the first baby of the year two thousand,
And all this even before the hour on which we wait.
So once more I turn to look at you
As often I have on other days,
But now with eyes schooled by rumour to see
Something altered by this singular ticking of the clock.
But of course I see, as I always have,
The familiar renewal of love in your face,
Its growth with each second that passes,
This one as the last, the constant miracle
That has brought me to this turning point
And will carry me on to the only immortality
That this or any other millennium affords.

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Nick Carding is a Brit who's been hiding in The Netherlands for the past ten years. Married to an itinerant Croat, he escapes south with her as often as he can - but not often enough for his liking.

These days he doesn't often submit - but in the past his work has been published in the UK, USA, Canada, Croatia, Australia and New Zealand.

You can contact him at carding@xs4all.nl