Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OLD YEAR, by JOHN GALSWORTHY Poet's Biography First Line: Tonight old year must die Last Line: The dead year, that has slipped away and gone! Alternate Author Name(s): Sinjohn, John Subject(s): Holidays; New Year | ||||||||
TONIGHT Old Year must die, And join the vagabonding shades of time, And haunt, and sob, and sigh Around the tower where soon New Year will chime. How fast the slim feet move! The fiddles whine, the reedy oboes toot, Lips whisper, eyes look love -- And Old Year's dying, dying underfoot! So mute and spent, so wan -- Poor corse -- beneath the laughter flying by; The revel dances on And treads you to the dust -- condemned to die! The moonlight floods the grass, The music's hushed, and all the festal din; The pale musicians pass, Each clasping close his green-cased violin. Old Year! -- not breathing now, Along the polished floor you lie alone; I bend, and touch your brow -- The dead year, that has slipped away and gone! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NEW YEAR'S POEM by MARGARET AVISON A SPEED OF HISTORY by MARGARET AVISON NEW YEAR'S DAY by DAVID LEHMAN LINES FOR THE NEW YEAR by JULIE CARR I AM RUNNING INTO A NEW YEAR by LUCILLE CLIFTON FOR THE NEW YEAR (2) by ROBERT CREELEY |
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