The Close of the Year

As rapid rolls the year away, Down the swift current of the times, A moment let the reader stay, And mark the moral of my rhymes. As rivers glide towards the sea, And sink and lose them in the main, So man declines—and what is he? His hope, his wish, alas, how vain! Fast goes the year, but still renew'd, The ball of time knows no decay; Sure signal of that greatest good, We hope in God's eternal day.