Article Text
Poem
The Death of the Old Year
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By Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
With comment by John Birtwhistle
… How hard he breathes! over the snow
I heard just now the crowing cock.
The shadows flicker to and fro:
The cricket chirps: the light burns low:
‘Tis nearly twelve o'clock.
Shake hands, before you die.
Old year, we'll dearly rue for you:
What is it we can do for you?
Speak out before you die.
His face is growing sharp and thin.
Alack! our friend is gone.
Close up his eyes: tie up his chin:
Step from the corpse, and let him in
That standeth there alone,
And waiteth at the door.
There's a new foot on the floor, my friend, …
Footnotes
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Competing interests None.
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Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed. Poem first printed London: E. Moxon, 1832.