University of Virginia Library

What solemn footfall smote my startled ear?
Heard I the step of the departing year?
Saw I her shadowy form flit slowly by,
To join her sisters in eternity?—
Sweeping down thither, as the autumn's blast
Sweeps summer's leaves, the records of the past,
The joys and griefs, the bustle and the strife,
The shadows and realities of life?
Hear me, stern daughter of old Time, O hear!—
Is there no plea may stay thy strong career?
O pause in pity! pause, and to my prayer
Grant a brief converse with the things that were—
I know the retrospect has much to pain,
Much to be mended could all come again;
Still, without one last look we must not sever,
Sad is the word that bids to part for ever!
Beam, then, again on me, dear, kindly faces,
And smile your best, old times and well-known places;
Bright looks, soft tones, high thoughts, and fancies fair,
Return, return, and be what once you were!
All that was precious in the year that's past,—
Too sweet to lose, too beautiful to last—
Sunshine, and song, and fragrance, things that threw
O'er life's dull path a brighter tint and hue;
Hopes realized, desires fulfill'd;—success
Crowning long toils; the burthens of distress
Lighten'd, Will subjugated, Self denied,
Ills overcome by long endurance, Pride
Taught to be greatly humble,—all that wakes
The approving voice of conscience, all that makes
Heaven's windows open o'er us, converse sweet,
And sweeter meditation; all,—all fleet
Back into being.—Burst oblivion's chain,
And be awhile realities again!—

Blest be the powers that can the past restore;—
They come, they come, warm breathing as of yore!
I hear remember'd voices, seem to dwell
Once more with forms I've known and loved so well.
Distinct, beyond my fondest hopes, they rise,
The shadows dimming the realities.
Beautiful witcheries! Oh, would I might
Hold them thus ever, durable as bright!
But, like the splendours of a sunset sky,
E'en while I gaze their glories wane and die,
And, as they fade, uprising in their rear
A host of darker verities appear;
Sorrows and sins of various shade and hue,
That claim their notice in the year's review.
And shall they be rejected? shall my eyes
Be shut to life's too stern realities?
And shall the records of the past be seen,
Not as they were, but as they should have been?
No! small the gain and brief the joy that lives
In the poor dreams such self-delusion gives;
And honest conscience scorns to take a tone,
Or speak a flattering language not her own;
And wherefore seek to bribe her, wherefore fear
Her rough but salutary voice to hear,
When every warning, now rejected, grows
To overwhelming thunder at the close?

The close! the close! How like a death-knell seems
That solemn word to wake me from my dreams!
One little year, yea, less than one like this,
May bring me to the close of all that is.
Far down Time's chequered stream I've voyaged on,
And seen my fellows drop off, one by one;
And now the widening waters seem to near
Eternity's dark ocean; on my ear
Sound the deep heavings of that shoreless sea,
And awe my soul into solemnity!
Darkling I hover round the world to come,
And voices thence are heard to call me home;
And stretching on into the dread expanse,
I fain would lift the curtain, and advance.
One little step, I know, would bear me through,
And give the secrets of the dead to view;
But till that step is taken, mortal sense,
Ask as it may, gets no response from thence.
Thought may at times, when all around me sleep,
Launch sounding forth into that silent deep;
But without star to guide or light to cheer,
Soon back to land my trembling course I steer.
E'en bold Conjecture onward fears to fare,
And Reason shrinks to find no footing there;
Till conscious Nature, baffled and o'er-awed,
Sinks suppliant on the Mercy of her God,
Turns from self-confidence to faith and prayer,
Clings to His Word, and finds her refuge there.

Thrice happy we, not left to grope our way
From truth to truth, by Nature's feeble ray,
Where one false step were ruin. Happier still
Our wills conforming to the Heavenly Will;
Ready, as God may prompt, to think, and feel,
And take His impress, as the wax the seal;
At His blest feet content to sit and learn,
Or walk by faith, till faith to sight shall turn;
Beneath the Saviour's cross to stand and scan
All He has done, and all He claims from man;
Learn from His life, and on His death repose,
And grow in love and duty to the close.
On the year's threshold, on the narrow strand
That parts the past and future, here I stand,
Without control o'er either: one is flown
Beyond recal;—a dark and dread unknown,
The other stretches onward,—what to be,
Seen but by Him who fills Eternity.
The present, and scarce that, is still my own;—
Oh, be it consecrate to Heaven alone!
Be mine, while all things shift and change around,
To cleave to Him in whom no change is found,
To rest on the Immutable, to cling
Closer and closer 'neath the Almighty wing;
His voice in all its varied tones to hear,
And in all aspects feel Him ever near;
Be mine with Him to walk, on Him depend,—
Then, come what may, it all to good must tend!