The Parting of the Year

Anna de Brémont

The midnight hour had come. With tearful eyes
And sad the Old Year strained I to my breast.
For we were loth to part—his lips I pressed
All tenderly in answer to his sighs.
A generous lover he; to say good-bye
Wrung heart and soul, bowed was his head and chilled
The hand with gifts and blessings lately filled.
’Twas hard to part—the dear Old Year and I.

        Lo! as he lingered, came thro’ casement pane
        A silvery summons echoing far and near.
        He faltered, trembled, gasped, then thrust atwain
        The casement, vanished in the starlight clear,
        No vestige leaving of his happy reign,
        While hand in hand stood I and the New Year!

This poem was published in Sonnets and Love Poems (J. J. Little, 1892). This poem is in the public domain.

The Christmas Wreath

Oh! Christmas wreath upon the wall,
     Within thine ivied space
I see the years beyond recall,
     Amid thy leaves I trace
The shadows of a happy past,
     When all the world was bright,
And love its magic splendour cast
     O’er morn and noon and night.

Oh! Christmas wreath upon the wall,
     ’Neath memory’s tender spell
A wondrous charm doth o’er thee fall,
     And round thy beauty dwell.
Thine ivy hath the satiny sheen
     Of tresses I’ve caressed,
Thy holly’s crimson gleam I’ve seen

Anna de Brémont

2018

Christmas Morn

There’s a holy light like a beacon bright,
     Afar over land and sea.
Soft its lambent ray o’er the broad earth plays
     With a rosy dancing glee,
And the topmost peak of the mountains bleak
     Blush fair in the glowing morn.
Over wood and tarn sweeps the glorious dawn
     To herald the Child-Christ born.

White the sea-waves fling like an angel’s wing
     The foam as their blue crests rise,
While each gallant ship, with a skim and a dip,
     In the wind’s lap speeding flies;

Anna de Brémont

2018

Poems

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The Parting of the Year

More by this poet

The Christmas Wreath

Christmas Morn

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