NEW-YEAR's-DAY, 1699

Ah! Hapless Day! How thy sad gloom appears!
Rolling o'er me twice Twelve revolving Years.
Thou gav'st me Life, thus art thou doubly curst,
[…], by thy Light I saw Amasia first.
Now, since that time, twelve Circling Suns roll on,
Since that sad time I found Amasia gone.
Scarce to compleat thy Circle wouldst thou stay,
You bore in hast, so rich a prize away.
Return, Rapacious, Rival Year! restore
My fair, my Charmer, Charming as before.
O woe Eternal! O Eternal pain!
Nor you, nor she must strike my Eyes again.
My endless Sorrows round thy Circle move;
Twelve fatal Years! Half of my Life was Love.
Love was my Life; and now I plainly see,
That Time and Death are much the same to me.
O Grant me, […]; this is all my Pray'r;
One smiling Sun, let me behold my fair.
For that one Day, Serene I'll bear my doom,
Past Years of Woe, and Ages yet to come.
If, on that Day, I meet Amasia's scorn,
If, on that Day, the Charmer shall not burn,
Never may this, no, never more return.