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.

I wind about, and in and out, - With here a blossom sailing, - And here and there a lusty trout, - And here and there a grayling.

And was the day of my delight As pure and perfect as I say?

And sometimes through the mirror blue The knights come riding two and two.

I will be deafer than the blue-eyed cat, And thrice as blind as any noonday owl, To holy virgins in their ecstasies.

A life of nothing's nothing worth, From that first nothing ere his birth, To that last nothing under earth.

Her court was pure, her life serene; God gave her peace; her land reposed; A thousand claims to reverence closed.