---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Bertha E. Anderson
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 5
number: 3
published: 1902-01
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Bertha E. Anderson, "The Passing of the Year. A Poem," *Improvement Era* 5, no. 3 (January 1902): 171.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0503unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera0503unse
start_page: 171
end_page: 171
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1902-01)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0503unse
  publication_year: 1902
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1902, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Passing of the Year. A Poem

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THE PASSING OF THE YEAR.
What is thy end, 0 foot-tread of the year,
And thou, dank husk, flung wilting on life's pyre?
When not one hand of all that thou hast led
May turn to touch anew thy silenced lyre;
Is pure regretting something nobler, higher
Than passion-painted words of ours can tell?
Is silence nearer to the great wide Calm,
Whence mighty wmgs of peace spread forth to heal,
With voiceless power, like touch of myrrh's balm?
Blest are thy depths, 0 heart-beat penitent.
When, like a flood-tide battling to be heard.
Contrition doth entreat with thee for voice.
And all thy wells of purity are stirred —
Yet unresponsive lips can sound no word —
For mute revealing hath no claims of earth.
And in the dawn that spans the pain of tears,
There shall our intent mingle voice with His,
Who garners back the harvest of the years.
Bertha E. Anderson.