Sonnet for the New Year

The Midnight Gate (Shakespearean Sonnet)

This sonnet uses the traditional English structure (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) to reflect on the transition of time.

The heavy frost of winter coats the pane,

A silver ghost of all the year has been;

The losses felt, the efforts spent in vain,

Are buried now beneath a quiet sheen.

The clock ascends its steep and final hill,

To stand a moment poised upon the height,

While all the world is breathless, cold, and still,

Before the plunge into a newer light.

Let old regrets like autumn leaves depart,

To feed the soil where future blooms may grow;

Bring nothing but a brave and open heart,

Across the bridge of midnight and the snow.

For though the sun sets on the year we knew,

The morning sky belongs to what is new