We Cannot Conquer Time...

The Old Year

The Old Year's gone away
To nothingness and night
We cannot find him all the day
Nor hear him in the night.
He left no footstep, mark or place
In either shade or sun
The last year he'd a neighbour's face
In this he's known by none.

All nothing everywhere
Mists we on mornings see
Have more of substance when they're here
And more of form than he.
He was a friend by every fire
In every cot and hall
A guest to every heart's desire
And now he's nought at all.

Old papers thrown away
Old garments cast aside
The talk of yesterday
Are things identified.
But time once torn away

No voices can recall
The eve of New Year's Day
Left the Old Year lost to all.

~~John Clare