Farewell the year! which threatened so
The fairest light the world can show.
Welcome the new! whose every day,
Restoring what was snatched away
By pining sickness from the fair,
That matchless beauty does repair
So fast, that the approaching spring,
(Which does to flowery meadows bring
What the rude winter from them tore)
Shall give her all she had before.
But we recover not so fast
The sense of such a danger past;
We that esteemed you sent from heaven,
A pattern to this island given,
To show us what the blessed do there
And what alive they practised here,
When that which we immortal thought,
We saw so near destruction brought,
Felt all which you did then endure,
And tremble yet, as not secure.
So though the sun victorious be,
And from a dark eclipse set free,
The influence, which we fondly fear,
Afflicts our thoughts the following year.
But that which may relieve our care
Is, that you have a help so near
For all the evil you can prove,
The kindness of your royal love;
He that was never known to mourn,
So many kingdoms from him torn,
His tears reserved for you, more dear,
More prized, than all those kingdoms were!
For when no healing art prevailed,
When cordials and elixirs failed,
On your pale cheek he dropped the shower,
Revived you like a dying flower.