I Am Running Into a New Year by Talullah

Legendarium Ladies April - April 25, posted during amnesty week
General Prompt: Hope
Picture Prompt: Lady with Camellias, by Molly Dean

Poetry Prompt: i am running into a new year, by Lucille Clifton
i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twenty-six and thirty-six
even thirty-six but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me

There’s a whole phrase that’s lifted from the poem.