Amos: sadie sings end-of-year blues

amos the churchmouse:

a view from under the pew

Editor's note: Amos is a church mouse who types by hurling himself at the keys, but he can't use the shift keys, and he shuns punctuation marks -- except for hyphens and dashes.

sadie sings end-of-year blues

boss i woke up

depressed this morning

it s the end of the

year my life is in

disrepair there are

so many deeds left

undone so many words

left unsaid so many

promises left unkept

it s sad i said so why

not go back to bed

but my alarm clock

kept ringing its

little knob off and

i had to get up boss

but i didn t like it much

i was still depressed

when i walked out into

the cold winter air

a noise floated down

the street it was the

raucously happy song

of hoppy the happy toad

and boss the last soul

a depressed mouse

wants to see is a

happy toad

so i crossed over to

the other side of

the street

who do you suppose i

chanced to meet - sadie

the ladybug - she was

singing something that

sounded like a funeral

dirge now here was a

kindred spirit

life is bad life is sad

sadie wailed i should be

in jail for all the ways

i ve failed the end of the

year is a drag for all bugs

spiders and hags life is

bad life is sad the end of

the year is a drag

now sadie says me i can

commiserate but don t

you think you exaggerate

no way mouse-ay there s

a lot more i could say

in fact you could start

with oy-vey oy-vey

woe is me woe is me

cried little miss sadie

the end of the year

causes fear and

consternation shame and

alienation anxiety and

frustration it s a bad

trip it s a low flip

and you find yourself

face down under the

shelf wallowing in self-

pity and singing this

little ditty

life is bad life is sad

each day sags like a bag

life is just a drag

by now boss i was so

low my whiskers were

barely above my toes

just then flit the firefly

flitted by whistling a

happy little tune and

crooning a bit at the

fading moon

you re so happy why says i

don t you know it s the

end of the year says me

trying to hold back a tear

that s the best time

to be happy and free don t

you see says he

nope i don t says me

why looky here says he

it s the end of the year

that s true but it s also

the start of the new

out with the old in with

the new it s time to be

bold a time to renew a

time to leave behind all

ills and unkind deeds and

press ahead to new rhymes

good times and kind deeds

i tell ya amos the end of the

year is a good thing you can

clean up the old and bring

in the new with a loud ring

so stand up and sing

life is good life is grand

there s forgiveness in

jesus the one who frees us

from our past and our sin

a new year we begin so

boys strike up the band

after all life is good

life is grand

he was right boss life

sure looks better on the

other side of forgiveness

amos