Tag Archives: poems

Happy New Year, 2009

In Memoriam A.H.H.

by Lord Alfred Tennyson

 

 Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
     The flying cloud, the frosty light:
     The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
     Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
     The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
     For those that here we see no more;
     Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
     And ancient forms of party strife;
     Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
     The faithless coldness of the times;
     Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
     The civic slander and the spite;
     Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
     Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
     Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
     The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
     Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

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Goodbye and Farewell, 2008

A Song for New Year’s Eve

 by William Cullen Bryant

 

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay-
     Stay till the good old year,
So long companion of our way,
     Shakes hands, and leaves us here.
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One little hour, and then away.

The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
     Has now no hopes to wake;
Yet one hour more of jest and song
     For his familiar sake.
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One mirthful hour, and then away.

The kindly year, his liberal hands 
     Have lavished all his store.
And shall we turn from where he stands, 
     Because he gives no more? 
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One grateful hour, and then away.

Days brightly came and calmly went, 
     While yet he was our guest;
How cheerfully the week was spent! 
     How sweet the seventh day’s rest! 
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One golden hour, and then away.

Dear friends were with us, some who sleep 
     Beneath the coffin-lid:
What pleasant memories we keep 
     Of all they said and did! 
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One tender hour, and then away.

Even while we sing, he smiles his last, 
     And leaves our sphere behind.
The good old year is with the past; 
     Oh be the new as kind! 
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One parting strain, and then away.

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