Lo! the YEAR’s FINAL DAY! (Sonnet XLII) by Anna Seward

     Sonnet XLII

Lo! the YEAR’s FINAL DAY! – Nature performs
Its obsequies with darkness, wind, and rain;
But Man is jocund. – Hark! th’ exultant strain
From towers and steeples drowns the wintry storms!
No village spire but to the cots and farms,
Right merrily, its scant and tuneless peal
Rings round! – Ah! joy ungrateful! – mirth insane!
Wherefore the senseless triumph, ye, who feel
This annual portion of brief Life the while
Depart for ever? – Brought it no dear hours
Of health and night-rest? – none that saw the smile
On lips belov’d? – O! with as gentle powers
Will the next pass? – Ye pause! – yet careless hear
Strike these last Clocks, that knell th’ EXPIRING YEAR!

Dec. 31st, 1782.

Anna Seward
(1742-1809)
Lo! the YEAR’s FINAL DAY!
(Sonnet XLII)

• fleursdumal.nl magazine

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