{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/new-years-eve",
 "title": "New Year’s Eve",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 32,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 121,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 54,
  "max_indent": 3
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 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The other night I had a dream, most clear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And comforting, complete",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In every line, a crystal sphere,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And full of intimate and secret cheer.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Therefore I will repeat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That vision, dearest heart, to you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As of a thing not feigned, but very true,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes, true as ever in my life befell;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And you, perhaps, can tell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whether my dream was really sad or sweet.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The shadows flecked the elm-embowered street",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I knew so well, long, long ago;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And on the pillared porch where Marguerite",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had sat with me, the moonlight lay like snow.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But she, my comrade and my friend of youth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most gaily wise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most innocently loved⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She of the blue-gray eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That ever smiled and ever spoke the truth⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From that familiar dwelling, where she moved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like mirth incarnate in the years before,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had gone into the hidden house of Death.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I thought the garden wore",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "White mourning for her blessed innocence,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the syringa’s breath",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came from the corner by the fence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where she had made her rustic seat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With fragrance passionate, intense,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if it breathed a sigh for Marguerite.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My heart was heavy with a sense",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of something good for ever gone. I sought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Vainly for some consoling thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some comfortable word that I could say",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To her sad father, whom I visited again",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the first time since she had gone away.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The bell rang shrill and lonely⁠—then",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The door was opened, and I sent my name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To him⁠—but ah! ’twas Marguerite who came!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There in the dear old dusky room she stood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath the lamp, just as she used to stand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In tender mocking mood.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“You did not ask for me,” she said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And so I will not let you take my hand;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But I must hear what secret talk you planned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With father. Come, my friend, be good,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tell me your affairs of state:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Why you have stayed away and made me wait",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So long. Sit down beside me here⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, do you know, it seems a year",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Since we have talked together⁠—why so late?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Amazed, incredulous, confused with joy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I hardly dared to show,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And stammering like a boy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I took the place she showed me at her side;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then the talk flowed on with brimming tide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through the still night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While she with influence light",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Controlled it, as the moon the flood.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She knew where I had been, what I had done,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What work was planned, and what begun;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My troubles, failures, fears she understood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And touched them with a heart so kind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That every care was melted from my mind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And every hope grew bright,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And life seemed moving on to happy ends.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Ah, what self-beggared fool was he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That said a woman cannot be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The very best of friends?)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then there were memories of old times,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Recalled with many a gentle jest;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And at the last she brought the book of rhymes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We made together, trying to translate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Songs of Heine (hers were always best).",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Now come,” she said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“To-night we will collaborate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Again; I’ll put you to the test.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here’s one I never found the way to do⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The simplest are the hardest ones, you know⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I give this song to you.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then she read:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mein Kind, wir waren Kinder,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Zwei Kinder, jung und froh.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But all the while, a silent question stirred",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within me, though I dared not speak the word:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Is it herself, and is she truly here,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And was I dreaming when I heard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That she was dead last year?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or was it true, and is she but a shade",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who brings a fleeting joy to eye and ear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cold though so kind, and will she gently fade",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When her sweet ghostly part is played",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the light-curtain falls at dawn of day?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But while my heart was troubled by this fear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So deeply that I could not speak it out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lest all my happiness should disappear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I thought me of a cunning way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To hide the question and dissolve the doubt.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Will you not give me now your hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dear Marguerite,” I asked, “to touch and hold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That by this token I may understand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You are the same true friend you were of old?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She answered with a smile so bright and calm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It seemed as if I saw the morn arise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the deep heaven of her eyes;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And smiling so, she laid her palm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In mine. Dear God, it was not cold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But warm with vital heat!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“You live!” I cried, “you live, dear Marguerite!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When I awoke; but strangely comforted,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Although I knew again that she was dead.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yes, there’s the dream! And was it sweet or sad?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dear mistress of my waking and my sleep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Present reward of all my heart’s desire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Watching with me beside the winter fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Interpret now this vision that I had.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But while you read the meaning, let me keep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The touch of you: for the Old Year with storm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is passing through the midnight, and doth shake",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The corners of the house⁠—and oh! my heart would break",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unless both dreaming and awake",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My hand could feel your hand was warm, warm, warm!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}