Here’s a poem my husband found in a book of poetry, Songs of the Soil. It was written by Frank L. Stanton exactly one hundred years ago, to celebrate the new year of 1906.

To the New Year

One song for thee, New Year,
One universal prayer:
Teach us — all other teaching far above —
To hide dark hate beneath the wings of Love;
To slay all hatred, strife,
And live the larger life!
To bind the wounds that bleed:
To lift the fallen, lead the blind
As only love can lead —
To live for all mankind!

Teach us, New Year, to be
Free men among the free,
Our only master Duty; with no God
Save one — our Maker; monarchs of the sod!
Teach us, with all its might,
Its darkness and its light;
Its heart-beats tremulous,
Its grief, its gloom
Its beauty and its bloom —
God made the world for us!

I wish you all a Happy New Year, full of joy, hope, and peace.