ANOTHER year! Oh! how the moments fly,
The rush of ages to eternity!
The passing stream towards the ocean vast,
The glowing present to the shadowed past.
Another year of striving and of toil,
Of energy misplaced—of gathered spoil;
Of tears and sadness, and hope’s cheering ray,
The night of darkness, and the break of day.
Another year gone with its memories stored;
Its acts, and thoughts, and words, a garnered hoard.
Naught can be now unsaid, and naught undone,
The hour has struck—another year’s begun.
Another year! I face the future now,
The weight of Time is heavier on my brow;
The vista lengthens as I backward look,
And Memory writes fresh pages in her book.
Another year! How many more shall come?
What milestones yet before the gates are won?
The shadows fall from off the hills of time:
Those mighty hills that guard the eternal shrine.
Another year! The feet must tire at last,
And the bright “now” be numbered with the past;
The living “I” be soon the absent one—
The streams of life all to the ocean run.
Another year I My God, I owe to Thee
The gift of being and the power to be;
And in Thy universe, that speaks Thy power,
I have my place, my duty, and my hour.
H.W.