What will the new year bring – good things or bad? And are we glad to say goodbye to the year we’re leaving behind? This is what Christina Rossetti (1830-94) wonders in this little-known New Year poem, which also contains a touching religious sentiment: ‘Watch with me Jesus, in my loneliness: / Though others say me nay, yet say Thou yes; / Though others pass me by, stop Thou to bless.’
Old and New Year Ditties
New Year met me somewhat sad:
Old Year leaves me tired,
Stripped of favourite things I had
Baulked of much desired:
Yet farther on my road to-day
God willing, farther on my way.