Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FAREWELL, OLD YEAR, by FLORENCE L. SIDLEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FAREWELL, OLD YEAR, by                    
First Line: Farewell, farewell, old year
Last Line: That which was lost, my soul, my soul.
Subject(s): Aging


Farewell, farewell, Old Year;
You go from me
And with you take
That which I cannot hold,
The sacred key of all the past.
I would not call you back,
Yet I with love and fear
Still will cling to you, Old Year,
While these few moments last.

One year ago I greeted you
In all your new-born glory,
And resolved that true to you I'd be,
True to myself and others.
Was I?
Oh let me not look back
Or I will see
That all my resolutions were as chaff
And count for naught,
Although I sometimes tried to be
The strong man God intended me.

I hear Time calling, and I sigh,
For well I know, Old Year, you soon will die,
And I for my mistake
Must retribution make.
What can I give, Old Year,
What will you take?

Love, Truth, and Charity you bid me keep
And bind them to my soul,
Then go and seek
The key to manhood's goal;
'Tis hard and steep, you say;
The crags and cliffs are high and deep.
I will while there find time to weep alone --
And for the past, Old Year, atone.
You bid me keep all these;
What will you take?
I ask again, for I must give --
While yet, Old Year, you live,
You'll take from me only a promise rare
That I the crown you give to me shall wear.
Old year! Do as you will with me.
"The crown," you say, "is Sweet Humility."
Farewell, farewell, Old Year,
I've found at last the goal,
That which was lost, my soul, my soul.





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