It Slipped By ('the new year / did not come in')

it slipped by

the new year
did not come in
it slipped by
on the last street of December

formally dressed
collar and pin
as if summoned to hear
what was no longer
just in the offing
and nod
and see itself out

at all the midnights
planted through the world
fire-workers crouched at their buttons
champagners gypsied their heels

but the twelve tolls
were the steps of a man
with no head for heights
backing down a long long ladder

time hid beyond
the last reverberation
the new year
pushed that jellied globe aside

straightened a skewed cuff

time shuffled out
fell in step
as they walked

through peach-blossom
summer deeps
the bright cut of days back-endish
lamps chatter-headed in a nave

all bits and dabs
conjured by time
to sweeten the dying way
ended with a gust of old leaves
like a snow-weight absently lifted
absently set down