Three for luck

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 byfar than the past one.

This is the year that

a consummate liar hadclaimed as his last one.

This is the year we

will know if the bastard waspulling 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 knowBy the year’s end toll.W.J. Webster

This could be the best,

The greatest year of my life!Who knows what’s waiting,

how high the rating?

It may deserve five stars, mighteven win a prize.

If I touch the skies

or sink to the depths, at leastI can try my best!Celia Gentles

The hinge of the year

Bestows traditional wavesOf hope and of fear.

I sit and rehearse

The blind date of the future,The past’s stubborn curse.What fate is hiddenIn the dark labyrinth of time:Heaven or midden?Basil Ransome-Davies

Gran’s getting narky:

‘It’s just something and nothing,All this malarkey!’

‘Och now, whisht ye, Gran.

St Andrew’s bells are ringing,There’s punch in the pan.’

Now midnight is here.

We cross arms, link hands and sing,Welcoming the year.Gerard Benson

Your forebears have dashed

So many burgeoning hopes.Still I welcome you,

Asking at my age

Less and less, not invitingMore disappointments.

Just thankful I’m here

To greet you — and wishful toSee your twelve months through!Alanna Blake

You’re gonna be great.

I feel it in my waterLike stirrings of fate.

No auld acquaintance

Dragging us into the past,The future’s your chance

To show new faces

And maybe bring news of peaceFrom foreign places.G. McIlraith

The year is dying;

in the night wild bells ring outbut the bells are tame.

Calling, replying,

no hesitation, no doubt,the bells play their game.

Bell with bell vying

tell us what new year’s about —all change, all the same.Mary Holtby

Let politicians,

Pundits and experts all beSent to Gehenna.

After a year, when

Even bishops went bonkers,Chased by the papers,

Think of Eliza:

‘Wouldn’t it be lov-er-lyJust to be peaceful?’Paul Griffin

No. 2479: Woman of the Guard

The first female Beefeater has just been appointed at the Tower of London. You are invited to supply a Gilbertian chorus (maximum 16 lines) to mark the event. Entries to ‘Competition No. 2479’ by 25 January.