New Year

MORTAL: ‘The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and drear; Who is it knocking at my door?’ THE NEW YEAR: ‘I am Good Cheer.’ MORTAL: ‘Your voice is strange; I know you not; in shadows dark I grope. What seek you here?’ THE NEW YEAR: ‘Friend, let me in; my name is Hope.’ MORTAL: ‘And mine is Failure; you but mock the life you seek to bless. Pass on.’ THE NEW YEAR: ‘Nay, open wide the door; I am Success.’ MORTAL: ‘But I am ill and spent with pain; too late has come your wealth. I cannot use it.’ THE NEW YEAR: ‘Listen, friend; I am Good Health.’ MORTAL: ‘Now, wide I fling my door. Come in, and your fair statements prove.’ THE NEW YEAR: ‘But you must open, too, your heart, for I am Love.’