This Hogmanay, I do resolve to be,
Better than I am, or have been to date,
Not by fail of will, to procrastinate,
But seize the nettle, of changes you see.
First of my cause, an education make,
To learn from every whim of fickle chance,
And lead the devil, my own merry dance,
Find virtue hiding, then bad habits break.
Not to moan at fortune, but to forge own,
In furnaces of intention, beat steel,
Drink nectar of gods’ own, seek paths to roam,
Never fall in folly of spinning reel,
Then cast my mettle bright, its armour hone,
Prove such strength of fettle, as granite stone.
31st December 2003