year

[dzlk]

The evening of the profound holiday drew much strength and unhappiness from such depths as the afternoon, the week, the year of unhappiness, and the lives that long had been lived. This secular holiday is full of pain because it is both an ending and a beginning. In this way, it participates in some of the strangeness and difficulty of both birth and death.

(-Delmore Schwartz, "New Year's Eve", from In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and other stories)

10, 9, 8, etc.