Page:Poems Craik.djvu/103

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A PSALM FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE.
85
"Make straight paths for your feet"—and to the opprest—
"Come ye to Me, and I will give you rest."

Yet Wang some lamp-like hope
Above this unknown way,
Kind year, to give our spirits freer scope
And our hands strength to work while it is day.
But if that way must slope
Tombward, bring before our fading eyes
The lamp of life, the Hope that never dies.

Comfort our souls with love,—
Love of all human kind;
Love special, close—in which like sheltered dove
Each weary heart its own safe nest may find;
And love that turns above
Adoringly; contented to resign
All loves, if need be, for the Love Divine.

Friend, come thou like a friend,
And whether bright thy face,
Or dim with clouds we cannot comprehend,—
We 'll hold out patient hands, each in his place,
And trust thee to the end.
Knowing thou leadest onwards to those spheres
Where there are neither days nor months nor years.