ORIGINAL POETRY. A SONG FOR THE NEW YEAR.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2081, 3 January 1879, Page 4 (Supplement)

ORIGINAL POETRY. A SONG FOR THE NEW YEAR.

" A new life with the new year" cried my soul, And Hope from underneath the weight of year* Crept up half trembling to my side, and •wept ; Whispering buck the words through all her tears. And Faith, too long a stranger, straight upcame Repeating,: "With the new year, a new life", Till every echo round about ray world Flung back thcj words. A little cloud that hung Before the crimson curtain o' the weat, Disaolved, and where it had been, lo ! I saw, In type of gold, the utt'rance of my ssalo a l ! Over the heaven the new-born B tars lay grouped In tho«e seven words .T My 'faithful poplar tree Conspired with the breeze, and sang them , o'er a^ain, Until the sleepy insects hummed in tune. And heaven, air, earth, and water, and all else Knew them by heart, and shouted them all night. And with the dawn th' invisible lark, who L irnt His lesson i' the night, the secret told To all the daylight workers on God's earth. For me ; I lay in most supreme content, Willing to take my burden up, and go Through the world fearless. Now the shadows grew Each hour intenser. infthe moonlos night. I heard a voice amid the jubilant choir More sad, and yet more bold than all the rest, And up mv heart cune, holding bv the hand An angel with a r<ost enchanting face, H ibited most completo in gos c am3r winga. Within her other hand she held a book, Filled with fair writing on the opened leaves. But when the wind o'er-blew them, there were stains Unon the other*. My heart said "You know "This is the spirit of Memory; when the woods " And winds are pouring forth what Psyche said, "' A new life with the new year' Memory enmes " With full dipped pen and open leaf, to ask " If in the new life that i- dawning now " A place be kept there for the oM, old love ? " Or «hall a new love come with the new vwm, "As well as a new life!" My soul did hear The words she spike, and answered straight for me. " O ! no, it is a new life of new hopes, " New aspirations after nerfeotne**, " And of repe^Ud yearnings for the nsst "Given to the stanch of faith, and penitent. "But the old love is sweetest. Life renewed " With nobler aspirations, its a gift " flod sent ! but if the love be broken away " Which hath sustained us in the darkest time " With glimpsei into heaven itself —if this " Be lost, what fancy of the passing hour II Will fill its place! 0 ; no, close up thy book. "(Only again to\>pen it, I trust, "For the recording 'of 'good thoughts t" My love And I will go through this dark vale together, Safe with each other till the time shall come When we shall drop^together out of life ! Old love whose truth the years have tried, Shall we cot thro' the meadows go Claspt hand in hand, to meet the tide Of that great sea, whose ebb and flow Is ceaseless ? Shall the season* grow And see our hearts still firmly tied, Filled with the love that we both know, Careless of all the world beside ? And looking onward thro' the mist, Canst thou not hear the plash of wares, Angry with rocks that long resist, Moaning far in those weird caves. The broad green sea the sunshine paves, Making the sea-weed flash, sun-drest, Old age comes on, the ocean laves Thy feet, and wet* the lip I kist. January, 1879. Y«ndys.