Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR, by CARROLL RYAN



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR, by                     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, death—a 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 still—the 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 form—Oh, 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 I—dare I heed
What thou hast shown, perhaps but to destroy?





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