When the Red Year Wakes

I

When midnight spills its scarlet light,

The old year folds its wings in flight;

Drums awaken sleeping skies,

And paper dragons start to rise.

II

Lantern moons in silk suspend,

Each flame a wish the stars will send;

Gold-brushed doors and crimson thread

Invite new fortune softly spread.

III

Children laugh with pockets wide,

For luck in envelopes to hide;

While elders bow to time’s long stream,

And pour the past like fading dream.

IV

The lion leaps through smoke and sound,

Its emerald eyes scan sacred ground;

With every step, with every beat,

It chases shadows from the street.

V

Fireworks bloom like cosmic flowers,

Brief constellations born of hours;

Their thunder writes across the night

A promise sealed in sparks of light.

VI

And as the dawn paints roofs in jade,

Fresh vows within the heart are made

—That hope, like spring, will always start

A quiet new year in the heart.

VII

Red lanterns rising,

Drums wake the sleeping new year

—Spring smiles in fire.