New Year [The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and drear]
by
MORTAL:
‘The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and
drear;
Who is it knocking at my door?’
THE NEW YEAR:
‘I am Good Cheer.’
MORTAL:
‘Your voice is strange; I know you not; in shadows dark I grope.
What seek you here?’
THE NEW YEAR:
‘Friend, let me in; my name is Hope.’
MORTAL:
‘And mine is Failure; you but mock the life you seek to bless.
Pass on.’
THE NEW YEAR:
‘Nay, open wide the door; I am Success.’
MORTAL:
‘But I am ill and spent with pain; too late has come your wealth.
I cannot use it.’
THE NEW YEAR:
‘Listen, friend; I am Good Health.’
MORTAL:
‘Now, wide I fling my door. Come in, and your fair statements
prove.’
THE NEW YEAR:
‘But you must open, too, your heart, for I am Love.’