John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.
At SundownTo Oliver Wendell Holmes, 8th Mo. 29th, 1892
A
Will welcome thy new year,
How few of all have passed, as thou and I,
So many milestones by!
Our youth and age between,
Two generations leave us, and to-day
We with the third hold way,
To those who, one by one,
In the great silence and the dark beyond
Vanished with farewells fond,
Their vacant places fill,
And with the full-voiced greeting of new friends
A tenderer whisper blends.
Of mingled ill and good,
Of joy and grief, of grandeur and of shame,
For pity more than blame,—
More cheerful for thy sake,
Soothing the ears its Miserere pains,
With the old Hellenic strains,
With smiles for blessings sent.
Enough of selfish wailing has been had,
Thank God! for notes more glad.
Are want, and woe, and sin,
Death and its nameless fears, and over all
Our pitying tears must fall.
Which folly brings to it,
We need thy wit and wisdom to resist,
O rarest Optimist!
In differing moods and ways,
May prove to those who follow in our train
Not valueless nor vain.
The songs of boyhood seem,
Yet on our autumn boughs, unflown with spring,
The evening thrushes sing.
When at the Eternal Gate
We leave the words and works we call our own,
And lift void hands alone
Brings to that Gate no toll;
Giftless we come to Him, who all things gives,
And live because He lives.