Reflections on the Closing Year

'Twill soon be gone-the wailing night wind drear / Chants her sad requiem to the closing year: / 'Twill soon be gone-the brilliant starry night / In silent eloquence repeats the strain.

'Twill soon be gone-the placid queen of night / O'er its departure sheds her mellow light. / Oh, time, what art thou? who thy course may stay? / Not ours the past nor future, but today.

Hark! hark! the distant peal of yonder bell, / In measured tones the midnight hour doth tell. / Old year, thy reign is past; we bid adieu / To thee, and usher in the new.

I'll to my couch, and dream the hours away, / 'Till fair Aurora opes the gates of day: / But ere I go, dear friends, on you I call: / "A happy new year" is my wish to all.

1843