File:Poem titled Elmwood, New Year’s Eve, 1884 (5b087da0-e77a-433c-ae58-3115e322a5ad).jpg

Manuscript poem

Archives Number: 1002/9.3-160#001

[pencil annotation:] “[Thorp]”
Elmwood
New Year’s Eve 1884.
The old year lies a dying,
No tear will mark its grave,
The fleeting moments hurry on
No hand is raised to save.
We would not if we could
Turn back the book of fate,
What once is writ upon its page,
To change, is now, too late.
The failures that we’ve made,
May to successes turn.
The Past is but a letter book,
From which this [crossed out: world] life to learn.

The old year lies a dying,
And as I enter here,
Two forms rise up before me
To all our household dear.
Twin brothers they, of music,
With natures sweet and mild,
Each stood before his maker,
E’en as a little child.
One’s grave is in the frozen North,
Beneath the silent sky.
The others resting place is hid,
Beneath the snow, hard by.

The old year lies a dying.
We will not mourn the Dead,
For are they not, with us tonight,
to wish us joy instead.
Two happy homes made sad,
Are now in gladness one.
Two loving hearts unite us all
Another life’s begun.
The Past we cannot change,
The Future we may mold,
Then press with trustfull footsteps on,
To reach to heights untold.

The old year lies a dying,
And we who gather here,
Will not lament for what is gone
But give the new good cheer,
Beneath the ground, the last years fruit,
Lies rotting, - while it’s [sic] seed,
Shall with the new year come to life
And countless millions feed.
So hopes we mourned as lost that faded seemed,
May Shall yet their fruitage bring,
And as we cry “The King is dead”
We cry “Long live the King”

• Keywords: document; henry w.l. dana papers (long 17314); poetry; Collected Materials (1002/009); (LONG-SeriesName); Miscellaneous Famous People (1002/009.003); (LONG-SubseriesName); From “T” folder – poem “Elmwood; New Year’s Eve; 1884” [Thorp?] (1002/009.003-160); (LONG-FileUnitName)