New Years, A Dialogue by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

MORTAL:

    “The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and drear;

    Who is it knocking at my door?”

THE NEW YEAR:

    “I am Good Cheer.”

MORTAL:

    “Your voice is strange; I know you not; in shadows dark I grope.

    What seek you here?”

THE NEW YEAR:

    “Friend, let me in; my name is Hope.”

MORTAL:

    “And mine is Failure; you but mock the life you seek to bless. Pass on.”

THE NEW YEAR:

    “Nay, open wide the door; I am Success.”

MORTAL:

    “But I am ill and spent with pain; too late has come your wealth. I cannot use it.”

THE NEW YEAR:

    “Listen, friend; I am Good Health.”

MORTAL:

    “Now, wide I fling my door. Come in, and your fair statements prove.”

THE NEW YEAR:

    “But you must open, too, your heart, for I am Love.”