Kindness

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Was he not kind to you, this dead old Year?
Did he not give enough of earthly store?
Enough of laughter and good cheer?
It is not well to hate him for the pain
He brought you, and the sorrows manifold.

To pardon him these hurts still I am fain,
For in the panting period of his reign,
He brought me new wounds,
But he healed the old.