{
 "id": "mary-weston-fordham/passing-of-the-old-year",
 "title": "Passing of the Old Year",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Mary Weston Fordham",
 "poet_slug": "mary-weston-fordham",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Magnolia Leaves",
 "book_slug": "magnolia-leaves",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 32,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1897,
  "venue": "Magnolia Leaves (1897)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/magnolialeavespo00ford"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/mary-weston-fordham_magnolia-leaves",
  "file": "magnolia-leaves.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/mary-weston-fordham-magnolia-leaves-full-text-1897-preface-by-booker-t-washington",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006775637"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 48,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Ah! the year is slowly dying,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the wind in tree-top sighing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chant his requiem.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thick and fast the leaves are falling,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "High in air wild birds are calling,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nature’s solemn hymn.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In the deep, dark forest lingers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Imprints of his icy lingers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chill, and dark, and cold.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the little streamlets flowing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wintry sun so softly glowing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through the maple’s gold.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So, Old Year, gird on your armor,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let not age, nor fear, nor favor,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hurry you along.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "List! the farewell echoes pealing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "List! the midnight hour is stealing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hark! thy dying song.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Say, Old Year, ere yet your death knell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rings from out yon distant church bell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Say, what have you done?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Tell of hearts you’ve sadly broken,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tell of love dead and unspoken,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ere your course is run.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Tell the mother who doth languish,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O’er her graves in silent anguish,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She will see again,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Blooming bright “beyond the river”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Living on for aye and ever,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Every bright-eyed gem.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Ah! full many a spirit weary,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You have wooed from paths so dreary,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wafted them above.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Now they say Old Year, we bless thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Raise thy head, we would caress thee",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For this home of love.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "On thy brow lies many a furrow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thy eyes tell many a sorrow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath its shadow cast.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But thy task is almost ended,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Soon the path which thou hast wended,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will be called the Past.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then, old dying year we hold thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To our hearts we fondly fold thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ere the midnight bell.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Soon thy race will now be ended,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With Eternity be blended,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So, Old Year, farewell.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}