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New Year's Hymn - James Monroe Whitfield
Another year, another year,
Unfolds its page of hope and fear!
Where, at its close, shall we appear
Who now are congregated here.
Perhaps, with those now passed away,
We may be laid deep in the earth;
Perchance, 'mid foreign scenes, we may
Forget the land that gave us birth.
Perhaps upon the stormy seas,
Where raging billows wildly roll,
The terrors of despair may seize
Upon the dark and guilty soul.
But wheresoe'er our footsteps tend,
'Mid tropic sands, or polar snow,
May we remember that great Friend
Who guards us wheresoe'er we go.
Whose mighty hand hath been our stay
Through scenes of trouble, doubt and fear.
And suffered us, poor worms of clay,
To enter on another year.
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Oh! Oh! Sleep With One Eye Open!
Ah! fading year, Ah! fading year,
When memory's a thin veneer,
Lost hazy charades disappear;
Erased, replaced, ignored, unclear!
Forgetting sorrowful dismay,
Forgetting nationwide unrest,
The somber wordless disarray;
How better now: submerged, repressed!
Farewell, oh frightening unease;
Where shadows, set adrift, cajole
Of bloodstained broadswords and disease;
The tombstones tell the tearful toll.
Tomorrow we may comprehend
The awful awesome truth, although
For now, unhappy thoughts pretend
That flashback was from years ago.
Somehow yon sphere sent us astray,
But hear our prayer, our hope sincere;
Preparing purpose, come what may,
With hope we eye the near New Year.
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