Song for the New Year (Excerpt)

Old time has turned another page

of eternity and truth;

He reads with a warning voice to age,

And whispers a lesson to youth.

A year has fled o'er heart and head

Since last the yule log burnt;

And we have a task to closely ask,

What the bosom and brain have learnt?

Oh! let us hope that our sands have run

With wisdom's precious grains;

Oh! May we find that our hands have done

Some work of glorious pains.

Then a welcome and cheer to a merry new year,

While the holly gleams above us;

With a pardon for the foes who hate,

And a prayer for those who love us.

We may have seen some loved ones pass

To the land of hallow'd rest;

We may miss the glow of an honest brow

And the warmth of a friendly breast;

But if we nursed them while on earth,

With hearts all true and kind,

Will their spirits blame the sinless mirth

Of those true hearts left behind?

No, no! It were not well or wise

To mourn with endless pain;

There's a better world beyond the skies,

Where the good shall meet again.

Then a welcome and cheer to the merry new year,

While the holly gleams above us;

With a pardon for the foes who hate,

and a prayer for those who love us.

Eliza Cook, public domain, published in Poem-a-Day, December 29, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets