Midnight New Year's Eve

Standing at my window to close the blinds at just past midnight I watched a million jewelled fireworks sparkle and jostle into the sky lighting the darkness. Crackling and snapping, banging and clapping they welcomed the New Year and sent the Old Year running into the past.  A lull - occasional bursts of crimson and golden sparkling showers lit up the skyline, then I stood transfixed as it seemed to me hundreds of Fire-Lanterns rose above the rooftops and the hills.  Silent as the wishes they bore they floated in glowing abundance, carrying the whispered hopes of their protagonists upwards to the heavens and a hopeful future of health, love, happiness and peace...please God.
"Ah...if wishes were horses,
Beggars would ride!"

'Lily Lily Rose'
by, John Singer Sargent,
tate.org.uk