The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #117401   Message #2528234
Posted By: Liz the Squeak
31-Dec-08 - 09:14 AM
Thread Name: BS: Happy 2009 from Sydney
Subject: RE: BS: Happy 2009 from Sydney
Greetings to you too, from the place where time really starts!

A little something I found which sums up a lot of what this 'below the line' stuff is about...

The Old Year
by JOHN CLARE

The Old Year's gone away
To nothingness and night:
We cannot find him all the day
Nor hear him in the night:
He left no footstep, mark or place
In either shade or sun:
The last year he'd a neighbour's face,
In this he's known by none.


All nothing everywhere:
Mists we on mornings see
Have more of substance when they're here
And more of form than he.
He was a friend by every fire,
In every cot and hall—
A guest to every heart's desire,
And now he's nought at all.


Old papers thrown away,
Old garments cast aside,
The talk of yesterday,
Are things identified;
But time once torn away
No voices can recall:
The eve of New Year's Day
Left the Old Year lost to all.

LTS