2020 to 2024

2020 to 2024

by Hans Sirotniak ‘24

I put up my flag, standing tall

One by one, the threats shall fall

If I am in the timing here

Nowhere else do I need to be near I left long ago with a mighty alarm

That some time soon the days would be gone

When I figured out the news

A new quest would begin

Boredom, excitement, treasures of the time

Soon and very soon I would see, 2020

That there was more than just what I meant to be

Up in the virtual world there it was waiting for me

Back a few months, I had it all

Even though my world looked small

One spark of joy was enough

To pass through the emptiness of winter ’ s darkness

So I braved the cold, a shocking sign

Nine times asking help from the ones over there I surely knew that I was not there

But I really did care

To be, revival of the past

An exciting leap

A stage lit up

And still lights me up when I remember it today

The joy

The excitement

The fulfillment

The peace

On a weekend where hope was gone

Up I turned away and gone

To an old monument, found long ago

But the world I had clung to was gone

And giving the other another chance, I looked in

And realized the blessing right in front of me

There it is, see it!

A new opportunity, renewing the old one

And so I played on and on

Weeks and weeks to pass through the closure

Eventually when times needed to change

I sat, I planned, I found the way

And I left it all behind me

My mind still had it in me

But my eyes couldn’t see it

They were resting for something even greater

Welcome to the new place

It’s a great big world here

Community and company

With more and more things to hold dear

But it did not take me from the greater goal

I waited, waited, waited

Christmas time was coming

And the wait would be over

Shocking going in, looking out

New discoveries here about

The famous, the new, the giant of song I got to witness what was to be there all along

But it was turning

Song by song, story by story, new thing after new thing

Was it just for the moment?

Or could it last a lifetime?

Past by past, swing forth

Simplicity squeezing in

I expected but didn’t see it

So I must call once again

Praying and praying

Feeling the brokenness inside of me

Remembering the promises

The blessing slipped in

It made it before the pacific clock struck midnight

And a new journey started, 2021

Many things happened before it was done

But consider the one thing to remember

Shocking how such great a blessing can be there for me

But being able to physically witness it, another scene

So I waited, half a year, working hard

Eventually, my time would come to hold

Trying to recreate it, in a different place

But I wasn’t very successful

So I saw things closing in again

And they did, peacefully

Accepting the new mixing in with the old

Being the witness for Fall 2021

To open up new opportunities

And see my time as something more enjoyable than it was

New ideas summoned up

A way to think about the situation

And traveling along different stations

I reached it, the Straight Line

A sign of no turning back Just going forward

Going forward I did, complementing the cycle

And entered into a new generation, The 2022

I saw the sign for change coming

But I had to stay with the old

My story was not ready yet

To advance so quickly

As the songs came in

I gently chugged along, month by month

It was almost the same, or at least it ended that way

When traveling became the center of attention

Then the journey would start that pushed me to the ground

An age of weakness, hard to overcome

Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, but not Year 4

I had already walked out of the door

Remade me into a new image

One of suffering, one of hope

One of emerging, one of being comforted

And one where I could see the everyday things as new

And as these seasons of weakness closed in I continued working on the world journey

Time and time again, way too much to do

But was there a way I could complete it?

A year ’ s worth of time spent, but not there through I still had a little bit more to do, grow like a tree

When one spark came, the last word “good”

The year ended how it should, blessing in round 3

Onto a new motivation, 2023

Where everything I had seen

Would become a dream of completion

And I didn’t get it right that time

Once, my thought, get it all done

Then later I will have fun

But I had already planned too much

Fun would have to become something different

Was it the most important, or was I wrong?

All my comfort thrown into song

No more playing, just reaching

For something that was far beyond the boundaries

But the work was not in vain

As I was able to put the content into a second brain

Years of stories I shall tell

Could save me from being stuck in the cell

It ended, peacefully I guess, seeing the rust forming

Accepting that once it has all fallen out of my hands

The year ended, no improvement in sight

But still being comforted in the middle of the night

Open the door to 2024

Now I sit, now I see

It was all there for me

But one time it might be there to end

Gradually, gradually, rolling out the list of the past

So much to listen to, I would get to it at last

Collide with a time of waiting, not my own choice to make

Only something that hung onto the past

The victory came through

The shouts of my past heard anew

Blessings still come, blessings still here

But not in the same way that they used to appear

Slowly but slowly, into the night

I had to simplify the things after the flight

The purpose of the time is to worship

Focus on God, don't be so alarmed about a broken past

Now I sit, now I think

This could be a great time for me

If only I was fit for the opportunity that I came to see

Will I be?

And soon and very soon, my time will be up

I will reach forward, out of luck

Or maybe a new opportunity I will see

Value again of something there, waiting for me