The Old Year groaned as he trudged away, <br />His guilty shadow black on the snow, <br />And the heart of the glad New Year turned grey <br />At the road Time bade him go. <br /> <br />"O Gaffer Time, is it blood-road still? <br />Is the noontide dark as the stormy morn? <br />Is man's will yet as a wild beast's will? <br />When shall the Christ be born?" <br /> <br />He laughed as he answered, grim Gaffer Time, <br />Whose laugh is sadder than all men's moan. <br />"That name rides high on our wrath and crime, <br />For the Light in darkness shone. <br /> <br />"And thou, fair youngling, wilt mend the tale?" <br />The New Year stared on the misty word, <br />Where at foot of a cross all lustrous pale <br />Men raged for their gods of gold. <br /> <br />"Come back, Old Year, with thy burden bent. <br />Come back and settle thine own dark debt." <br />"Nay, let me haste where the years repent, <br />For I've seen what I would forget." <br /> <br />"And I, the first of a stately train, <br />The tramp of a century heard behind, <br />Must I be fouled with thy murder-stain? <br />Is there no pure path to find?" <br /> <br />The Old Year sneered as he limped away <br />To the place of his penance dim and far. <br />The New Year stood in the gates of day, <br />Crowned with the morning star.<br /><br />Katharine Lee Bates<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/blood-road/
