Welcome and Farewell
WHEN the New Year came, we said,Half with hope and half with dread:“Welcome, child, new-born to beLast of Time’s great family!All thy brethren, bent and gray,Aged and worn, have passed awayTo the place where dead years go,—Place which mortals cannot know.Thou art fairest of them all,Ivory-limbed and strong and tall,Gold hair blown back, and deep eyesFull of happy prophecies;Rose-bloom on thy youthful cheek.Welcome, child!” And all the whileThe sweet New Year did not speak,Though we thought we saw him smile.
When the Old Year went, we said,Looking at his grim gray head,At the shoulders burden-bowed,And the sad eyes dark with cloud:“Was he ever young and fair?Did we praise his sunny hairAnd glad eyes, with promise lit?We can scarce remember it.Treacherously he smiled, nor spoke,Hiding ’neath his rainbow cloakStore of grievous things to strewOn the way that we must go.Vain to chide him; old and weak,He is dying; let him die.”And the Old Year did not speak,But we thought we heard him sigh.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Welcome and Farewell is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, Welcome and Farewell, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/welcome-and-farewell.html, id L23484.
Form and metre
Welcome and Farewell is 32 lines in 2 stanzas of 16 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 62% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA--BBCCDDEEFGFG saidA · dreadA · be · family · grayB · awayB · goC · knowC · allD · tallD · eyesE · propheciesE · cheekF · whileG · speakF · smileG
- 2 AABBCCDDEE--FGFG saidA · headA · bowedB · cloudB · fairC · hairC · litD · itD · spokeE · cloakE · strew · go · weakF · dieG · speakF · sighG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN the New Year came, we said, | 7 | ······· |
| Half with hope and half with dread: | 7 | ······· |
| “Welcome, child, new-born to be | 7 | /˘····· |
| Last of Time’s great family! | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| All thy brethren, bent and gray, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Aged and worn, have passed away | 8 | ·····˘˘/ |
| To the place where dead years go,— | 7 | ······· |
| Place which mortals cannot know. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Thou art fairest of them all, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ivory-limbed and strong and tall, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Gold hair blown back, and deep eyes | 7 | ······· |
| Full of happy prophecies; | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Rose-bloom on thy youthful cheek. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Welcome, child!” And all the while | 7 | /˘····· |
| The sweet New Year did not speak, | 7 | ······· |
| Though we thought we saw him smile. | 7 | ······· |
| When the Old Year went, we said, | 7 | ······· |
| Looking at his grim gray head, | 7 | /˘····· |
| At the shoulders burden-bowed, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·˘ |
| And the sad eyes dark with cloud: | 7 | ······· |
| “Was he ever young and fair? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Did we praise his sunny hair | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And glad eyes, with promise lit? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| We can scarce remember it. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Treacherously he smiled, nor spoke, | 8 | ········ |
| Hiding ’neath his rainbow cloak | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| Store of grievous things to strew | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On the way that we must go. | 7 | ······· |
| Vain to chide him; old and weak, | 7 | ······· |
| He is dying; let him die.” | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the Old Year did not speak, | 7 | ······· |
| But we thought we heard him sigh. | 7 | ······· |
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