Come midnight…the chill will descend from the North and the West, bringing frost to the pane and spent leaves beyond my porch. Come midnight, there will be a breeze come visit to usher away the tired memories…to waltz off with the fickle lady who left me to weep with the tattered resolutions I tried to honor and romance starting at another midnight of a tired year ago. The lady called Eve, who visits but once a year, who urges me to raise a glass, to toss away the last three hundred sixty four, and sweep them aside out a seldom used door.
I will do so with a small reservation, a tug at my heart…and a quiet knowing smile…cause she was a sweet year, a collection of smiles and sighs…of both kinds. She gave me new reasons to laugh and to cry, friends to embrace…some to bid adieu for the time being, one to eulogize. I added to my collection of dried blossoms, of over-read notes, of songs to remind me of all of those things…and prayers to help me forget.
Come midnight I will have marked twenty four new year’s passing without champagne…perhaps a nod, a hug and a private tear. Come midnight there will have been fifty two, whether I marked them or not…and the knowing too that in two weeks passing, ten years since we said goodbye to Mom.
Come midnight, nothing will change, and at the same time; nothing will be quite the same. I am grateful; I am weary, wiser, and a little worldlier than this time a year ago.
Come midnight, I will remember I forgot to buy a new calendar when the leaves were turning, but none the less a new, but slightly older lady will accompany my plans and signatures. I don’t know whether I’ll make her any promises, but I plan to spend times with her clear eyed and sober, full of good intention and with respect for the times she’s given and will give to me…Come midnight…Please come, midnight…and accompany me.
Happy New Year friends. And hey, God…come midnight and come morning, my friends who fight the good fight as dawn approaches, still need you at their side. Come on midnight…I’m waiting here on you…
Matthew 12/312011
Matthew Lyle Landsman 
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