Good-by, Old Year! we wait to greet the New,
And hope within its circling hours to see
More of content and less of misery.
Yet, haply, all life’s toilsome journey through,
No happier scenes than thine will meet our view;
If so, we humbly bow to Heaven’s decree,
With hearts, though wounded, still as firm and true
As when we first knelt to the Deity.
Many will weep, Old Year! while thou dost lay
Thine aged head within the voiceless tomb.