2012.

Old friends, older faces

Recurring disgraces.

Kick the grey mare

But never the traces.

Twenty and twelve

Start over again,

Distraction, the distance

Between now and then.

Hope springs eternal

So does the shame

Banker and bailiff

The rules are the same.

The signposts and links

Of todays and tomorrows

Rue and ruination

Milestones of old sorrows.

Welcome the handshake

Of debt and despair

Like the wan white horizon

Of the old woman’s hair.

No clerics in Dublin

Bishops gone west

Berlusconi’s disgrace

Relegated, at best.

What’s round the corner?

Fortitude, fear,

Farewell to eleven

Bring on the New Year!