bear children and overweight parents

around the streets on New Year's Eve.

At work they see nothing

but the cart in front, face their fate

in blinkered silence. Tethered

in stalls, their braying

roars through the town.

 

Pale-haired twins twirl

each other with ghostly smiles;

Marbella square awash with people,

music as midnight nears.

Our daughter doles out the grapes

and Cava that explodes up my nose,

in my hair, all over my glasses.  

 

Expect the unexpected, I remind

myself, even 2016's last laugh. 

Anticipation, apprehension

for the new year 

in equal measure

as Spanish children await

the feast of the kings.