Page:The songs that Quinte sang.djvu/85

Rh And he whispers: “O sad mortal!
 * Bid thy sorrows all depart,

I have come with fairest blessings
 * And would cheer thy saddened heart.”

And I whisper: “Tell me, New Year,
 * What thou hast in store for me?”

But he clasps his hand still closer
 * O’er the gifts I may not see.

And he speaks in solemn sadness
 * “Mortal, would’st thou look ahead,

Would’st thou draw aside the curtain
 * From the paths that thou must tread?

Never yet were seen by mortals,
 * Paths as yet by them untrod,

Seek not then to read the future,
 * Leave it all to time and God.”

Then with footsteps fleet and noiseless,
 * Speed the shining throng away

And once more alone I’m sitting
 * In the darkness, cold and gray.

“Ah! The New Year’s right,” I murmur,
 * “It is best I should not know,

So to God I leave the future
 * Be it weal or be it woe.”