January is a liar
He comes to tell me things have begun anew
And I am to start over fresh
On a clean sheet of paper in a new college ruled notebook
With a brand new felt tipped pen

But December did not end
He was merely truncated
His burdens didn’t fall off a cliff
They did not dissolve in acid
They did not take flight with monarch butterflies and flutter to Mexico for the winter
My troubles did not end because January came
December just passed them on to the next month
They are in cahoots, I think

He tells me he will be different this time
He swears it up and down to make me believe it
Sometimes I even believe him
And forget how he abused me this way before
And left me panting and weak

I can’t stop him from coming
And I don’t know how many times he will visit me again
So I endure, sustain, submit
At least until I can put all the months before him to rest
Wipe my brow with the back of my hand
And deal with this mess of a month properly