My friend Kirk Brown posted this Ogden Nash poem on his Facebook page today, an annual tradition for him. I have always loved Ogden Nash…as a girl, his poetry and Dr.Suess’s books started me rhyming, an activity I still enjoy. So Nash’s New Year’s poem inspired a garden rhyme of my own.

Good Riddance, But Now What?
By Ogden Nash
Come, children, gather round my knee;
Something is about to be.
Tonight’s December thirty-first,
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark! It’s midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year.
 
My garden take on this poem:

Good Riddance, But Now What?
By C.L. Fornari
Come people gather round my spade,
It’s time when future plans are made.
We leave last year, and summer’s drought,
And all the seeds that didn’t sprout.
Forget tomato blight and bugs,
Leave behind earwigs and slugs.
It’s less than three short months to spring,
And the pleasures/problems it will bring.
Hark! A new year, and we’re knowing,
It’s all unknown as we start growing.

It is the time of year when we might set off in a new direction…where will 2025 lead you?