In Competition No. 2476 (in error numbered 2477) you were invited to supply three haikus (rhyme optional) which form a single poem greeting the New Year.
The traditional Japanese haiku has 17 syllables arranged in three unrhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables. Western poets have widened their scope to cover almost any mood. I like this one from the late D.J. Enright:
Everest, Mont Blanc,
Matterhorn, Mons Veneris —
Hills so hard to climb.
The prizewinners, printed below, get £18 each, and the bonus fiver belongs to John Whitworth.
This is the year of
the pig and is better by
far than the past one.
This is the year that
a consummate liar had
claimed as his last one.
This is the year we
will know if the bastard was
pulling a fast one.
John Whitworth
The chimes at midnight
Toll the twelve months gone before:
Then there is silence.
A sound will break it:
A cry, perhaps, a murmur,
Laughter or a sigh.
Whose the pain will be,
And whose the joy, we shall know
By the year’s end toll.
W.J.
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