HC 010223 New Year’s Resolve

New Year’s Resolve

I remember seeing Khrushchev’s image well

Newsreels of stern men, fat and bald, would swell

From bus to stand and point at edge of field

Beside our crops, we’d share our precious yield

All round and plump in Summer flush of green

Must be the finest fields he’d ever seen,

The corn, it’s farmer, standing tall and proud

As cameras captured them and gathered crowd

A photo in today’s Times shows a farm

A harvest gleaning scene has come to harm

New Holland combine works on Ukraine fields,

All up to date with miraculous yields,

Now war, for reasons beyond our ken, fouled

Because one man, Vladimir Putin, growled:

Exports are down by half, the world goes hungry,

Democracy can wait, the world grows angry

Resolve to hold the line against such acts

Has Western nations out renewing pacts,

India, their surplus billions firm demands

Has Modi’s allegiance changing hands:

It’s fuel they need at new embargo prices

To fuel our climate’s ever worsening crisis.

I likely will downgrade from Champagne to beer

While I take the day off, wring in the New Year.