27
THE NEW YEAR.
This is the New Year! Countless chroniclers
Of steady time have struck the midnight hour;
And in hushed darkness face to face we stand
With the opposing possibilities
Of this fresh fraction of the centuries,
Whose ripples reach unto eternity.
Well do we know this New Year shall embrace
Desolate winter, glorious summer days,
Spring hopefulness, and autumn's sure decay.
Now shall the heaven above us be a stretch
Of undimmed sunlit azure, and now flecked
With beauteous cloudlets floating fairy-like;
Now shall thick fogs obscure it, and again
Shall dull, dense masses of dark tempest-cloud
Heave in tumultuous billows o'er the sky.
Then, yet again, shall mystic night reveal
In varied phases the calm, queenly moon;
Th' erratic planets and far distant stars,
Waking high thoughts of untold, unknown realms.
Now shall the fierce wind blow, and now be stayed;
Now shall the rain and now the snow prevail;
Now frost, now sultry stillness, now soft airs;
Now shall the lightning-flash and thunder-peal
Strike terror all around; now shall the sea
Be lashed to fury, and now undisturbed
Save by its never-ceasing ebb and flow.
Day after day the sun shall rise and set,
Day alternate with night, and the wide world
Shall sleep and wake, and sleep and wake again,
And all shall typify the changefulness
Of this year's slow-enacting history
Of nations and of every human life.
There shall be conflict, victory, defeat,
Rebellion, controversy, progress, mirth,
Of steady time have struck the midnight hour;
And in hushed darkness face to face we stand
With the opposing possibilities
Of this fresh fraction of the centuries,
Whose ripples reach unto eternity.
Well do we know this New Year shall embrace
Desolate winter, glorious summer days,
Spring hopefulness, and autumn's sure decay.
Now shall the heaven above us be a stretch
Of undimmed sunlit azure, and now flecked
With beauteous cloudlets floating fairy-like;
Now shall thick fogs obscure it, and again
Shall dull, dense masses of dark tempest-cloud
Heave in tumultuous billows o'er the sky.
Then, yet again, shall mystic night reveal
In varied phases the calm, queenly moon;
Th' erratic planets and far distant stars,
Waking high thoughts of untold, unknown realms.
Now shall the fierce wind blow, and now be stayed;
Now shall the rain and now the snow prevail;
Now frost, now sultry stillness, now soft airs;
Now shall the lightning-flash and thunder-peal
Strike terror all around; now shall the sea
Be lashed to fury, and now undisturbed
Save by its never-ceasing ebb and flow.
Day after day the sun shall rise and set,
Day alternate with night, and the wide world
Shall sleep and wake, and sleep and wake again,
And all shall typify the changefulness
Of this year's slow-enacting history
Of nations and of every human life.
There shall be conflict, victory, defeat,
Rebellion, controversy, progress, mirth,
