Good Luck In 2014 Poem by Jim Yerman

To ensure that luck will come our way it seems there’s nothing we won’t do
We’ll carry a rabbit’s foot, cross our fingers or hang an old horseshoe.

Not only do we hang it but to show we know what its luck is all about
We hang the darn thing pointing up so the luck will not run out!

How do these superstitions form? It’s really not to hard to see,
As so many other things in life...blame it on the family.

When I think back to my childhood one superstition I hold dear
Is the odd but appealing way we greeted each new year.

At the first stroke of midnight New Year’s Eve, seconds before the Happy New Year shout
We’d open up the back door and let all the bad luck out.

Once all the bad luck exited, at least as far as we were concerned
We’d quickly shut the door so it could not return.

Then before the clock struck midnight we’d run to the front door in a blur,
And open it to welcome the New Year and any good luck accompanying her.

When I grew older and wiser(?) I wondered what we were doing this for
After all couldn’t the bad luck just run around and return through our front door?

In moments of practicality I believed this is just what would ensue.
I mean think about it, if it were truly bad, isn’t that just what it would do?

When I grew even older and wiser I overcame my misguided suspicion
And I began to comprehend the whole point of this tradition.

The point is not to ensure only good luck will appear
The point is to renew our hopes and dreams as we welcome the new year.

So this year as when I was a boy at the first stroke of midnight New Year’s Eve
I’ll be at my open back door watching all that bad luck leave.

Then I’ll run over to the front door as strange and funny as that seems
To welcome in the New Year with all her hopes and dreams.

Do any of these superstitions work? Have they every brought good luck to me?
I guess it’s possible and, knock on wood, that’s good enough for me.