Classic and Contemporary Poetry
NEW YEAR'S EVE, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is no change upon the air Last Line: My heart is its own grave! Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia Subject(s): Despair; Holidays; New Year | ||||||||
THERE is no change upon the air, No record in the sky; No pall-like storm comes forth to shroud The year about to die. A few light clouds are on the heaven, A few far stars are bright; And the pale moon shines as she shines On many a common night. Ah, not in heaven, but upon earth, Are signs of change exprest; The closing year has left its mark On human brow and breast. How much goes with it to the grave Of life's most precious things! Methinks each year dies on a pyre, Like the Assyrian kings. Affections, friendships, confidence, -- There's not a year hath died But all these treasures of the heart Lie with it side by side. The wheels of time work heavily; We marvel day by day To see how from the chain of life The gilding wears away. Sad the mere change of fortune's chance And sad the friend unkind; But what has sadness like the change That in ourselves we find? I've wept my castle in the dust, Wept o'er an alter'd brow; 'Tis far worse murmuring o'er those tears: Would I could weep them now! Oh, for mine early confidence, Which like that graceful tree Bent cordial, as if each approach Could but in kindness be! Then was the time the fairy Hope My future fortune told, Or Youth, the alchemist, that turn'd Whate'er he touch'd to gold. But Hope's sweet words can never be What they have been of yore: I am grown wiser, and believe In fairy tales no more. And Youth has spent his wealth, and bought The knowledge he would fain Change for forgetfulness, and live His dreaming life again. I'm weary, weary: day-dreams, years, I've seen alike depart, And sullen Care and Discontent Hang brooding o'er my heart. Another year, another year, -- Alas! and must it be That Time's most dark and weary wheel Must turn again for me? In vain I seek from out the past Some cherish'd wreck to save; Affection, feeling, hope, are dead, -- My heart is its own grave! | 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 CALYPSO WATCHING THE OCEAN by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON |
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