i stood under
the dark night sky
looking upward
as intermittent
raindrops
splattered silently
on my cheeks
i knew
only a few
minutes remained
before the arrival of the
millennium
i did not care
beside me
no boy stood to kiss me at midnight
there was
no noisemaker to twirl
no champagne to toast with
no horn to blow
no confetti to toss
no firecrackers to explode
no party hat to wear
merely the
raindrops
on my cheeks
i did not care because
i had discovered a secret truth
i had learned that
the most important changes
were not those greeted at
midnight by a million screaming people
but those which slipped in
unwatched for and unnoticed
during the most
unimportant parts of life
when i stood with
raindrops
on my cheeks
and smiled