Ring Out, Wild Bells by Lord Alfred Tennyson

I thought it would be a good idea to start the year off with a poem with hopes of all things new. I found this one by Lord Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate. He wrote it in 1850 as an elegy or memorium for his sister's fiance who died at the age of 22. So, full of meaning for him and for us today. It's about ringing in a new year and the wish that negative things could be rung out or replaced with positive ones. The wish that man could set aside feuding ideologies and hope for a better world. A wish we all can share for any year.

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Ring Out, Wild Bells (from In Memoriam)

By Lord Alfred Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be. 

Source: A Poem for Every Day of the Year

An interesting item we found:

“It is an accepted English custom to ring English Full circle bells to ring out the old year and ring in the new year over midnight on New Year's Eve. Sometimes the bells are rung half-muffled for the death of the old year, then the muffles are removed to ring without muffling to mark the birth of the new year.”
Source: Wikipedia