Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A NEW YEAR, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A NEW YEAR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I want a new year. New things are not patched
Last Line: To thine eternity forever new.
Subject(s): Holidays; New Year


I want a new year. New things are not patched.
So would I start my year all finely whole,
No gaps of dull omissions meanly closed
With poorly fitting fragments of dispatch,
No mendings of ignoble after-thought,
But all one piece of steady warp and woof,
A year entire, as all my years should be.

I want a new year. New things are not worn,
Not thin in places, ragged here and there,
And loose bits hanging down; no year all frayed,
With fears and worries bare before its time;
But firm and confident, a brave new year.

I want a new year. Do not new things shine?
Do they not shimmer in the dancing light?
Are they not smooth and gracious to the touch?
Is it not joy to take them from the box,
And shake them out in tumbling, happy folds,
And hold them up for all men to admire?
So, with a burst of joy, my glad new year.

I want a new year. Ah, but new things cost!
Well, I will pay the price of this new year:
The price of patience, and the price of time;
The price of prayers ascending to the God
Who was before all years began to be,
And will be through the new years as the old;
The price of partings from the lower aims,
Of stanch adhesion to the rugged best;
The price of life!

I cannot pay the price.
Pay Thou for me, O Christ, my brother Christ!
Be Thou my Patience, and be Thou my Prayer;
Be Thou my Strength of hard, laborious will.
From out Thine endless ages with my God
Bring newness to this little year of mine.
So shall it be Thy year and not my own,
Yet doubly mine, as I shall dwell with Thee;
Yes, doubly mine, as through it I shall pass
To Thine eternity forever new.





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