Classic Poem

A cross the bare fields, through the night,
On cold winds desolately sighing,
From the far east where stars are bright,
To be revealed with morning's light,
The young New Year comes flying.
New Year, by darkness hovered,
What new songs will you sing me?
What new gifts will you bring me
From out the undiscovered?

Rare things the Old Year took away
To hold forever in his keeping:
Hopes that I thought would bloom some day;
Children that round my knees did play;
In his cold arms they now are sleeping.
New Year, by darkness hovered,
Can you bring back to me
Those hopes, that childish glee,
From out the undiscovered?

I had a heart all innocent;
The robes I wore were clean and white;
But now my robe is soiled and rent;
My heart is sad, while I lament
The chosen wrong, the slighted right.
New Year, by darkness hovered,
The lost peace I deplore
Can you bring back once more
From out the undiscovered?

The Old Year's skies were very fair;
Its flowers and grasses fresh and sweet;
Its summer clouds, its sunsets rare,
Its song-birds carolling in air,
Its children shouting round my feet,—
New Year, by darkness hovered,
In the new dawns that rise,
Will you bring fairer skies
From out the undiscovered?

The Old Year gave me books, and “thought
That wanders through eternity”;
It gave me human love, that brought
A message straight from God, and taught
My soul what heaven itself might be.
New Year, by darkness hovered,
A truer love, I know,
You have not to bestow
In all the undiscovered.

I'm glad your face I cannot see;
I bid you welcome without fear;
Whate'er your secret gift may be,
My Father's hand hath sent it me:
I take it, be it smile or tear.
New Year, by darkness hovered,
I would not, if I might,
Know what you hide from sight
There in the undiscovered.