Address to the New Year.

Dinah Mulock Craik.

O good New Year! we clasp

This warm, shut hand of thine,

Loosing forever, with half sigh, half grasp,

That which from ours falls like dead fingers’ twine.

Ay, whether fierce its grasp

Has been, or gentle, having been, we know

That it was blessed: let the old year go.

Friend, come thou like a friend;