Good old days--dear old days <br />When my heart beat high and bold-- <br />When the things of earth seemed full of life, <br />And the future a haze of gold! <br />Oh, merry was I that winter night, <br />And gleeful our little one's din, <br />And tender the grace of my darling's face <br />As we watched the new year in. <br />But a voice--a spectre's, that mocked at love-- <br />Came out of the yonder hall; <br />'Tick-tock, tick-tock!' 't was the solemn clock <br />That ruefully croaked to all. <br />Yet what knew we of the griefs to be <br />In the year we longed to greet? <br />Love--love was the theme of the sweet, sweet dream <br />I fancied might never fleet! <br /> <br />But the spectre stood in that yonder gloom, <br />And these were the words it spake, <br />'Tick-tock, tick-tock'--and they seemed to mock <br />A heart about to break. <br /> <br />'T is new-year's eve, and again I watch <br />In the old familiar place, <br />And I'm thinking again of that old time when <br />I looked on a dear one's face. <br />Never a little one hugs my knee <br />And I hear no gleeful shout-- <br />I am sitting alone by the old hearthstone, <br />Watching the old year out. <br />But I welcome the voice in yonder gloom <br />That solemnly calls to me: <br />'Tick-tock, tick-tock!'--for so the clock <br />Tells of a life to be; <br />'Tick-tock, tick-tock!'-'tis so the clock <br />Tells of eternity.<br /><br />Eugene Field<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/new-year-s-eve-17/
