Original Poetry.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 95, 4 January 1868, Page 8

Original Poetry.

THE NEW YEAR. Hail Sixty-eight ! all hail we greet, In pleasant terms your coming ; The past year too, we bid adieu, In tone quite unassuming. To some, the year that’s past no doubt The retrospect is sadness ; For such we pray, this New Year’s Day, Will bring a reign of gladness. To those who can look back and smile On Sixty-seven’s an old friend, We hope the New will prove as true, And ne’er turn out a cold friend. Let’s welcome then this coming guest With proper expressed feeling ; E’en at his birth, sweet social mirth, From hearts— let hearts be stealing. Here that same day has long been held, — A day for sport and pastime ; Now some declare, few will be there, ’Cause chang’d the site since last time. The fair sex too, they say will fail. Oh ! ne’er such cruel fortune ; ’Tis not the place, can bring disgrace, On worship or disporting. Then happy be those who may meet, Whate’r their sex or station ; Though better ’twere had’t been elsewhere, This brings no degradation. On public sports, the public mind And feelings should be studied, And men in place their names would grace. Could they have those embodied. Such movements always must require Some forward leading spirit, Who calls them forth grand source of mirth, The thanks of all does merit. Then now a happy good New Year, And to those sports success ; No one I’m sure, though rich or poor, Could wish those pastimes less. Awatere, Dec. 27, 1867. G-. W. C.