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Eugene Field - New-Year`s Eve
Work rating: Low

Good old days--dear old days
  When my heart beat high and bold--
When the things of earth seemed full of life,
  And the future a haze of gold!
Oh, merry was I that winter night,
  And gleeful our little one`s din,
And tender the grace of my darling`s face
  As we watched the new year in.
But a voice--a spectre`s, that mocked at love--
   Came out of the yonder hall;
"Tick-tock, tick-tock!" `t was the solemn clock
  That ruefully croaked to all.
Yet what knew we of the griefs to be
  In the year we longed to greet?
Love--love was the theme of the sweet, sweet dream
  I fancied might never fleet!

But the spectre stood in that yonder gloom,
  And these were the words it spake,
"Tick-tock, tick-tock"--and they seemed to mock
  A heart about to break.

`T is new-year`s eve, and again I watch
  In the old familiar place,
And I`m thinking again of that old time when
  I looked on a dear one`s face.
Never a little one hugs my knee
  And I hear no gleeful shout--
I am sitting alone by the old hearthstone,
  Watching the old year out.
But I welcome the voice in yonder gloom
  That solemnly calls to me:
"Tick-tock, tick-tock!"--for so the clock
  Tells of a life to be;
"Tick-tock, tick-tock!"-`tis so the clock
  Tells of eternity.
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