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A New Year's Greeting.
I
Greeting for this new age! A little late—I had so many trifling things to do;
Life drives us all at such a headlong rate,
Bringing each day some work or burden new,
Else old hard duties to be done again,
Repeated till we falter at the task,
Tired of the evermore-recurring strain,
And, half disheartened, pause awhile, to ask
“Verily, wherefore all this toil in vain?”
Even I, as dull and humdrum as I seem,
Rebel sometimes, and call it useless pain;
Yet when the orchards wake, and May's warm beam
Turns their gray boughs to pink,—or when their fruit
Ripens to red and gold, my thought will be
“Ah, after all, life's charms are past dispute,—
Can I forget, whatever Fate's decree,
Yonder an apple-tree is named for me?”
II
Good comradeship could never farther go;I reckon it my happiest compliment;
Ladies whose hair is growing gray, you know,
But rarely win one, save by accident.
Each year hereafter, when the spring comes round,
Radiant with promise, you will think of me,
Though I be distant far, or under ground,—
And link my memory with the apple-tree.
Vainly I might have sought a sweeter way,
Even could I have named my choice, to be
Remembered by my friend of many a day;
You could not grant a dearer gift to me;
Truly, I thank you; may your own life be
Richer and happier with every spring,
And may this brightly-dawning century
Crown you with joy, and grant you everything
You may desire, of all that life can bring!
January 1, 1901.
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