| |
| FULL knee-deep lies the winter snow, | |
| And the winter winds are wearily sighing: | |
| Toll ye the church-bell sad and slow, | |
| And tread softly and speak low, | |
| For the old year lies a-dying. | 5 |
| Old year, you must not die; | |
| You came to us so readily, | |
| You lived with us so steadily, | |
| Old year, you shall not die. | |
| |
| He lieth still: he doth not move: | 10 |
| He will not see the dawn of day. | |
| He hath no other life above. | |
| He gave me a friend, and a true true-love, | |
| And the New-year will take ’em away. | |
| Old year, you must not go; | 15 |
| So long as you have been with us, | |
| Such joy as you have seen with us, | |
| Old year, you shall not go. | |
| |
| He frothed his bumpers to the brim; | |
| A jollier year we shall not see. | 20 |
| But, though his eyes are waxing dim, | |
| And though his foes speak ill of him, | |
| He was a friend to me. | |
| Old year, you shall not die; | |
| We did so laugh and cry with you, | 25 |
| I ’ve half a mind to die with you, | |
| Old year, if you must die. | |
| |
| He was full of joke and jest, | |
| But all his merry quips are o’er. | |
| To see him die, across the waste | 30 |
| His son and heir doth ride post-haste, | |
| But he ’ll be dead before. | |
| Every one for his own. | |
| The night is starry and cold, my friend, | |
| And the New-year, blithe and bold, my friend, | 35 |
| Comes up to take his own. | |
| |
| How hard he breathes! over the snow | |
| I heard just now the crowing cock. | |
| The shadows flicker to and fro: | |
| The cricket chirps: the light burns low: | 40 |
| ’T is nearly twelve o’clock. | |
| Shake hands before you die. | |
| Old year, we ’ll dearly rue for you: | |
| What is it we can do for you? | |
| Speak out before you die. | 45 |
| |
| His face is growing sharp and thin. | |
| Alack! our friend is gone. | |
| Close up his eyes: tie up his chin: | |
| Step from the corpse, and let him in | |
| That standeth there alone, | 50 |
| And waiteth at the door. | |
| There ’s a new foot on the floor, my friend, | |
| And a new face at the door, my friend, | |
| A new face at the door. | |
| |
