Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot

Another year has passed.  
Another trip around the sun.  
Time marches like an enemy's army.  
Soldiers that never tire,  
their eyes fixed firmly on the horizon.  
I find myself on New Year's Eve  
home alone,  
as is my annual custom.  
My life is practical,  
not filled with parties and gatherings,  
with fireworks and champagne,  
where crowds of people
sway in various levels of sobriety,  
and sing Auld Lang Syne,  
unaware of its history  
or meaning  
(Thank you Robert Burns).  
At the stroke of midnight  
there will be shouts of "Happy New Year!"  
while I will be fast asleep in my bed.  
Another new year begins  
with and without me.  
A new year, a clean slate.  
Now is the time to show resolve,  
to cast away bad habits,  
to heal our broken being,  
to put off the old man and  
put on the new.  
We'll try once again to do better  
and to be better  
than we have in the past.  
That past which hangs over us  
like a colorful pinata,  
which we are now to smash with a stick,  
blindfolded from seeing the future.  
Maybe I should not smash my pinata,  
but save it as a decoration,  
put it on a shelf and know that it is  
still full of memories sweet as candy.  
Maybe today is a day to reflect  
on myself and consider my past while moving forward.  
Should auld acquaintance be forgot?  
Last year took all of my time  
and most of my energy.  
I was heavily invested in it.  
What effort will I put into this new year?  
Who knows what I will or will not do this year?  
And who knows what blessings,  
if any, God may bestow upon me,  
or what trials and tribulations I may be forced to endure?  
What grace may abound, what sins may be forgiven,  
how my days will be numbered?  
The answers are found in a crystal ball I do not own  
or maybe somewhere beyond the stars.  
I find it hard to "start over" on January first because  
the days are all woven together in a tapestry of time.  
One day builds upon the next.  
The past and present are steppingstones  
ascending to the future.  
A future built on a foundation  
of both memories and dreams.  
I smile as I think of my pinata on the shelf.
I wish for peace and contentment in this new year,  
and that old acquaintances be renewed.  
.