Classic Poem

Hail to the lovers of music and mystery!
Hail, fellow-students, both sober and gay!
Science and Politics, Grammar and History,
Reason and Logic are crazy to day:
My rhyme is ill-chosen, my ink is all frozen,
And blots by the dozen around me appear;
But still in the issue, before they dismiss you,
Permit me to wish you a happy new year.

Now in the time of the festival holidays,
Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years and all,
When Freshmen and Seniors together keep jolly days,
Down Clinton Street or up Hamilton hall;
When books are neglected, and study rejected,
And pleasure expected by all ranks of men;
In this merry season, it cannot be treason
That rhyme without reason should govern the pen.

Sing then of peace and continued prosperity,
Raise the glad anthem abroad and at home;
Trumpet our nation's renown to posterity,
Tell of her glory in ages to come:
Our internal ditches, the wonder of witches,
Will add to our riches and cherish our trade,
While steam and canal boats, and large ships and sail-boats,
And packets and mail boats our commerce will aid.

Sing of our Congress and President's message,
Talk upon politics much as you will;
May every good law have a speedier passage,
And every dull speech-making member be still;
May truth be regarded, and merit rewarded,
And error retarded, while vices are few;
That every vile faction, or wicked transaction,
May meet with detection and punishment due.

Sing of uncommon escapes and recoveries,
Steam-boilers bursting, or stages upset;
Sing of inventions and noted discoveries,
Since the last visit of General Fayette;
Of Reynolds's lectures, and Mitchell's conjectures,
With spider-web textures of arguments thin,
On Capt. Symmes' notions of internal oceans,
And wonderful motions of regions within.

Sing of our maidens, so lively, and pretty,
With cheeks of the rose and the lily combined,
With red lips, and bright eyes, and ringlets so jetty,
Adorn'd with all graces of person and mind,
Still may they inherit the beauty and merit,
And well-temper'd spirit, which lovers revere;
And each be surrounded with pleasure unbounded,
While joy's trump is sounded, this happy New Year!