by Alice Guerin Crist (1876-1941)
Guerin was a native of Clare, Ireland, and emigrated to Queensland with her family when two years old. The daughter of a teacher, she became a teacher herself, before marrying and settling on the land. A gifted poet, she was remembered in The Catholic Press as “a gentle, kind and generous woman, an exemplary wife and mother.”
The wild winds wing the curlew’s cry,
The stars blaze out o’erhead;
Under the solemn midnight sky,
Another year lies dead.
Another gone to join the throng
That holds the wayward past;
Wild days of sorrow and of song.
Too wonderful to last.
Forever have their fitful tears,
And reckless mirth flown by —
Ah! me — those mad — those glad old years,
‘Tis hard that they should die.
The years to come are bringing me,
All things earth’s children prize;
Long days of calm prosperity,
With bright and cloudless skies.
Years crowned with gracious gifts and sweet,
And none can understand;
Why I would stay their coming feet
With an impatient hand.
But wild winds wing the curlew’s cry,
And stars blaze out o’erhead;
Under the solemn midnight sky,
My heart is chill with dread.
~
Alice Guerin, “New Years Eve – December 1901“, written for The Worker, published 4 Jan 1902: 6.
Imaged sourced from State Library of Victoria digital collection (free access)
Obituary, The Catholic Press (24 Jul 1941: 2).
I like your New Years poem. One of my forbears was from Clare, an illiterate servant girl, a generation before Guerin, also to Qld. My father and his mother both had Clare as a middle name to remember her.
It’s a good one, isn’t it? I also have forbears from County Clare – also a generation before Guerin. No connection to Queensland though.