Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR, by CARROLL RYAN Poet's Biography First Line: Farewell, old year! Thy latest sobbing breath Last Line: What thou hast shown, perhaps but to destroy? Alternate Author Name(s): Ryan, William Thomas Carroll Subject(s): Holidays; New Year | ||||||||
Farewell, Old Year! thy latest sobbing breath Falls on my brow like whisperings of doom, Cold, cold and still thy agony of death Like one who perishes in winter gloom O! heavy is the burthen of thine age, Well mayst thou pant and stagger with the weight, Here, take with thee this darkly-blotted page, Filled with the record of a darker fate. Sad broken hearts and severed ties are thine, Sin, sorrow, deatha tale of care and woe With rifted gleams of glory that will shine In darkest moments on the faint and low. Here is a soul-drawn picture of the past; I traced it fondly when my heart was young. O! colors bright, why did ye fade so fast! Faint, mocking echo of a song I've sung! Go! go, Old Year, such things may never more Tear from my heart the armor thou hast lent, Tho' floating faintly from a far-off shore, I hear a whisper with thy sighings blent. Hush! hush! be stillthe poor Old Year is dead! While, springing from his ashes, see arise A being lovely as a spirit led Fresh from the glow of God's own paradise. It brings to me a scroll on which is writ No word or sign of all that yet may be; But o'er the page a shadow seems to flit I vainly grasp at what I cannot see. I see a formOh, can it be of earth? With long dark hair and eyes of wondrous hue, But robed in black, like one who at the birth Of sorrow stood, and all its anguish knew. So once again the long-deserted halls Of my dark heart are filling with a light Which softly on each buried treasure falls That long was hid by desolation's night. Then hail, New Year! for in thy face I read Sweet hope and promises of future joy. Delusive beauty, can Idare I heed What thou hast shown, perhaps but to destroy? | 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 |
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