I am running into a new year

and the old years blow back

like a wind

that I catch in my hair

like strong fingers like

all my old promises and

it will be hard to let go

of what I said to myself

about myself

when I was sixteen and

twenty-six and thirty-six

even thirty-six but

I am running into a new year

and I beg what I love and

I leave to forgive me

--Lucille Clifton