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<h1><i>The Old Year</i></h1>
<p id="id00658">The Old Year's gone away<br/>
To nothingness and night:<br/>
We cannot find him all the day<br/>
Nor hear him in the night:<br/>
He left no footstep, mark or place<br/>
In either shade or sun:<br/>
The last year he'd a neighbour's face,<br/>
In this he's known by none.<br/></p>
<p id="id00659">All nothing everywhere:<br/>
Mists we on mornings see<br/>
Have more of substance when they're here<br/>
And more of form than he.<br/>
He was a friend by every fire,<br/>
In every cot and hall—<br/>
A guest to every heart's desire,<br/>
And now he's nought at all.<br/></p>
<p id="id00660">Old papers thrown away,<br/>
Old garments cast aside,<br/>
The talk of yesterday,<br/>
Are things identified;<br/>
But time once torn away<br/>
No voices can recall:<br/>
The eve of New Year's Day<br/>
Left the Old Year lost to all.<br/></p>
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