Let us watch the ball drop in a quiet, empty square.

Let the geese stroll on the tarmac. Let no machines take wing.

Let the wild turkeys strut and assemble in Harvard Yard.

Let us stay home with uncorked bottles and cats on our laps.

Let us wave to each other from our individual screens.

Let the Japanese sika deer walk Nara’s templed streets.

Let the wild boar ramble through towns in Italy and Spain.

Let us stay home with our slow-cooked black-eyed peas.

Let us binge on TV, watch movies with our gangly teens.

Let the pumas roam in Santiago, the jackals in Tel Aviv.

Let the whales sing in unboated waters, the birds in noiseless air.

Let us stay home with unraveling marriages, with dispirited kids.

Let us put our exhaustion to bed early. Tuck in our worries and fears.

Let us turn out the lights, let the loggerhead turtles come ashore.

Let us sleep in this world of our making. Let us rise and remake.