[Editor: This poem, by Philip Durham Lorimer, was published in The Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW), 30 December 1893.]
Our Old and New Year.
The old year is out, and the new has begun
With the chiming of bells in the air,
The crowd surges forth to the beautiful sun
With a song they will sing as a prayer,
All merrily breaks from the laughs of their eyes
To the light that is streaming away
Their mirth that is new with its notes to the skies,
While they cradle the birth of to-day.
They hail it with cheer, and their cup overflows
With the joys that the cup has in store,
Till smile upon smile all their happiness grows,
As it clustered around them before,
And life is anew in the flush of its dream
With its hopes that are robed with the day,
And high-beating hearts swell the voice of the stream
That is full of mortality’s clay.
Ah! can it be so that the laughs and the glee
Are not true to the hearts that are there;
That the smiles are false, and not openly free,
As they float in their giggles in air;
That the loud hurrahs only cover the sighs
Of the hearts that are smothering groans,
That the songs we hear are the lip-uttered lies
From the dust or the clanging of bones?
Such thoughts may arise and unanswered remain,
For a veil is oft over the real;
Humanity’s mind is so cowardly vain
That it slinks to the hiding ideal,
But the world moves on from the old to the new
With the blossom of Hope in its bloom,
And Light shineth still from its yesterday blue
O’er the brink of a tenantless tomb.
The whirl of to-day will be hushed in the break
Of the morn that will herald the sun
Again in the east, when the tide will forsake
All the froth of its holiday fun;
When the real and true must be faced and o’ercome
And the shirking from trouble forgot
Reality’s voice is unknown to be dumb
In the whole of mortality’s lot.
The changes and chance that our beings endure
Will be ours in the year that is new;
The prizes and blanks for the rich and the poor
Are controlled in the dome of the blue;
But Time has a hand that the olden year gave
To the new, as it opened its fold,
And with its wide palm it can smoothen the grave
To us all in its touches of gold.
Philip D. Lorimer.
“Niudja,” Unanderra.
Source:
The Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW), 30 December 1893, p. 4
Also published in:
Windsor and Richmond Gazette (Windsor, NSW), 28 December 1895, p. 5
Editor’s notes:
There are several differences between the 1893 and 1895 versions of this poem. Most are minor, except for line 4 in the 3rd stanza, and line 4 in the 6th stanza (the final stanza).
1893, 3rd stanza, lines 1-8:
Ah! can it be so that the laughs and the glee
Are not true to the hearts that are there;
That the smiles are false, and not openly free,
As they float in their giggles in air;
That the loud hurrahs only cover the sighs
Of the hearts that are smothering groans,
That the songs we hear are the lip-uttered lies
From the dust or the clanging of bones?
1895, 3rd stanza, lines 1-8:
Oh, can it be so, that the laughs and the glee
Are untrue to the hearts that are there,
That the songs are false, and not openly free,
But a meaningless shout in the air.
But the loud hurrahs only cover the sighs
Of the hearts, that are smothering groans,
That the song we hear are the lip-uttered lies
From the dust, or the changing of bones.
1893, 6th stanza, lines 4 and 8:
Are controlled in the dome of the blue;
To us all in its touches of gold.
1895, 6th stanza, lines 4 and 8:
Will be openly known to us too.
To us all with its touches of gold.
Additionally, the 1895 version has some significant errors, e.g. blosson (should be: blossom), skirking (shirking), lost (lot).
blank = a piece of material (especially metal, but also glass or another material), which has been formed, made, or moulded to be the approximate shape of a product, with only some finishing touches to be applied to turn it into the final product (or to be individualised, formed into a distinctive shape, or made relatively unique, such as with metal keys)
clay = in the context of mankind, a reference to the idea that God made man out of clay; from Genesis 2:7 in the Old Testament of the Bible, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”, which has sometimes been referred to as God making man out of clay (e.g. “Man is made out of clay; he is an animal. Into the clay of man God has breathed the spiritual life; he is a son of God.”)
See: Rev. Lyman Abbott, “Conversion”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 13 August 1892, p. 9
dome of the blue = Heaven (the dome over blue skies)
dumb = mute, unable to speak; unwilling to speak; silent, not speaking (can also refer to: a lack of intelligence; someone who lacks intelligence, or who is regarded as stupid; something which is stupid, foolish, or pointless)
morn = morning
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
o’ercome = (archaic) overcome
oft = (archaic) often
robed = attired, clothed, covered, or dressed with a robe (also: enrobed), i.e. wearing a robe; attired, clothed, covered, or dressed in a certain way
shineth = (archaic) shines
Leave a Reply