Before the new year’s por­tal
With wait­ing feet I stand
And seek, dear Lord, a bless­ing,
The guid­ance of Thy hand.
The path is all un­trod­den,
No hu­man foot­fall yet
Has left a trace to fol­low,
And save our vain re­gret.

The way seems dark be­fore me,
With no clear guid­ing light;
All un­revealed its dan­gers
To my dim mor­tal sight.
Father, I dare not ven­ture
One sin­gle step alone,
Lest I in blind­ness stum­ble
Against some hid­den stone.

Known to Thy high­er wis­dom
Is all my fu­ture way;
Its rough­ness and its wind­ings,
Its snares to lead as­tray.
Unguided I shall wan­der,
Lord, let me take Thy hand,
And hold Thou up my go­ings,
That I se­cure may stand.

I know not what awaits me
Along the com­ing year,
What cup of joy un­tast­ed,
What wea­ri­ness or fear;
Beneath what weight of sor­row
I may be called to bow,
How near the drea­ry sha­dow
Falls on my path­way now.

But this I know, un­doubt­ing,
That not too great or strong,
Will be the cross Thou’lt give me,
The dark­ness not too long;
For lov­ing like a fa­ther
Thou chast­en but to bless;
And with each need­ed tri­al
Will give sus­tain­ing grace.

Lord, quiet these fore­bod­ings,
These hu­man doubts re­move;
Give me child­like as­sur­ance,
A calm, un­wa­ver­ing love.
Let me go for­ward brave­ly,
With will­ing, trust­ing feet,
Through Thine own strength to con­quer
Each en­emy I meet.