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<h2>The Passing of the Year</h2>
<p><br/>
My glass is filled, my pipe is lit,<br/>
My den is all a cosy glow;<br/>
And snug before the fire I sit,<br/>
And wait to <i>FEEL</i> the old year go.<br/>
I dedicate to solemn thought<br/>
Amid my too-unthinking days,<br/>
This sober moment, sadly fraught<br/>
With much of blame, with little praise.<br/>
<br/>
Old Year! upon the Stage of Time<br/>
You stand to bow your last adieu;<br/>
A moment, and the prompter's chime<br/>
Will ring the curtain down on you.<br/>
Your mien is sad, your step is slow;<br/>
You falter as a Sage in pain;<br/>
Yet turn, Old Year, before you go,<br/>
And face your audience again.<br/>
<br/>
That sphinx-like face, remote, austere,<br/>
Let us all read, whate'er the cost:<br/>
O Maiden! why that bitter tear?<br/>
Is it for dear one you have lost?<br/>
Is it for fond illusion gone?<br/>
For trusted lover proved untrue?<br/>
O sweet girl-face, so sad, so wan<br/>
What hath the Old Year meant to you?<br/>
<br/>
And you, O neighbour on my right<br/>
So sleek, so prosperously clad!<br/>
What see you in that aged wight<br/>
That makes your smile so gay and glad?<br/>
What opportunity unmissed?<br/>
What golden gain, what pride of place?<br/>
What splendid hope? O Optimist!<br/>
What read you in that withered face?<br/>
<br/>
And You, deep shrinking in the gloom,<br/>
What find you in that filmy gaze?<br/>
What menace of a tragic doom?<br/>
What dark, condemning yesterdays?<br/>
What urge to crime, what evil done?<br/>
What cold, confronting shape of fear?<br/>
O haggard, haunted, hidden One<br/>
What see you in the dying year?<br/>
<br/>
And so from face to face I flit,<br/>
The countless eyes that stare and stare;<br/>
Some are with approbation lit,<br/>
And some are shadowed with despair.<br/>
Some show a smile and some a frown;<br/>
Some joy and hope, some pain and woe:<br/>
Enough! Oh, ring the curtain down!<br/>
Old weary year! it's time to go.<br/>
<br/>
My pipe is out, my glass is dry;<br/>
My fire is almost ashes too;<br/>
But once again, before you go,<br/>
And I prepare to meet the New:<br/>
Old Year! a parting word that's true,<br/>
For we've been comrades, you and I —<br/>
<i>I THANK GOD FOR EACH DAY OF YOU</i>;<br/>
There! bless you now! Old Year, good-bye!<br/></p>
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