This Happened

As the clock winds down to the end of this term
Let's take a step back and see what made us squirm
What made us jump, what made us smile
And what we hope we've seen the last of for a while

We started with hope we might be turning the cards
On vaxing and masking and up with our guards
And while Omicron flared, it was a smaller scale storm
We settled into something, not normal, but norm 

The next threat came from another, not a virus this time
Though some think that label might still be in line
Not a VID but a Vlad that turned all upside down
Thinking he's Peter the Great with a more modern crown 

Would be easy, he thought, to roll in and capture
A country, a people, the alliance was fractured
But the Ukrainians stood strong, and emphatically so
And the rest of the world sent them guns and ammo

Zelensky went prime time when that was the need
Under incredible hardship they followed his lead
Where this goes? No idea. But one thing's for sure
The Bolshoi's not welcome, hot and cold wars endure 

While that drove the headlines, other stories still came
Monkeypox popped up, inflation wasn't tame
Roe vs. Wade was pushed back to the states
The red wave didn't happen, the Fed raised the rates

In venues less weighty, there were battles, quite right
Will slapped Chris, Amber and Johnny did fight
Meanwhile, Maverick flew and Avatar swam
And Taylor wanted concerts, Ticketmaster be dammed

The Rams beat the Bengals, Kansas topped Blue NC
Golden State showed us that crown number 4 was to be
Ortiz made the hall, Aaron broke Roger's mark
And the Astros and Dusty were the kings of the park

Serena bowed out, Tom did, then came back
Boris stepped down, Liz tried, then she cracked
And Elon? He was in, he was out, he was in
Now Twitter is his, but is that a loss or a win?

Elizabeth passed, a monarch strong willed
Jerry Lee, Fleetwood's Christine, their voices are stilled
Bill Russell, Bob McGrath, Ray Liotta and more
Olivia Newton and Meat Loaf, a very sad score

And that barely dents all that happened these days
In a year that started out in a bit of a haze

But as we turn the next page we have to hope as we do
That the next will be better for me and for you

It's all in the rearview, whether you laughed or you cried

Next year? Hopefully good stuff, both out and inside
So thanks for reading, for writing, and to you from me
Peace, love and happiness, and a terrific '23.

-END-

Marc Wollin of Bedford thanks all for spending some time in this space. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.