The last day of the year
    has arrived,
    and with it—

    the inevitable countdown.

The final hours of the year
    tick away
    in glitter and noise—

    champagne bubbles rising,
        the distant echo of fireworks,
           and the familiar chant:
               ten,
               nine,
               eight…

But this countdown isn’t the one that matters.

Each second pulls me
    closer to January 15th,
    the real beginning—

    a moment not yet dressed in confetti nor cheers, but in quiet expectation.

This countdown feels slower,
    marked by calendar squares,
    and the rhythm of days that stretch and blur.

    Every sunrise whispers, “Almost,”
    Every sunset echoes, “Soon.”

Tonight, the world celebrates an arbitrary ending,

But my heart beats in time with a different clock—
    ticking,
    tocking,

    towards a meeting that feels like the start…
                                                 of everything.