The Gate of the Year - Ushering in 2023

I've been posting this little poem here at the close of every year for quite a while now. It's a lovely thought for New Year's Eve.

The excerpt shown above is what most are familiar with; however, the entire poem, entitled "God Knows" is quite inspirational and worth the read.

It was written more than a century ago (1908) by Minnie Louise Haskins, who was both a poet and an academic, affiliated with the London School of Economics.

King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II's father, read the poem during his Christmas address in 1939, as Britain was on the brink of war. In that context, it takes on a whole new meaning - and perhaps that is why the Queen Mother remained fond of God Knows throughout her life. (The poem was also read at her funeral.)

If you're unfamiliar with it, here it is in its entirety:

God Knows
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."

And he replied:

"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life's stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God's thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.