New Year, the beginning
of spring in Amsterdam
The air is soft, life

is lighter in the streets
carefree are my steps
white and pink

the fruit trees, with confetti
of New Year's Eve
in the gutter, red scrap ribbons

through the city, the body
in which I breathe and live
Everywhere the promise is budding

that it can be peace
when we are neighbours
and it is spring

in everyone's heart
street after street
a flourishing beginning