I Stood on a Tower

Edmund Dulac

I Stood on a Tower

I stood on a tower in the wet,

And New Year and Old Year met,

And winds were roaring and blowing;

And I said, ‘O years, that meet in tears,

Have you all that is worth the knowing?

Science enough and exploring,

Wanderers coming and going,

Matter enough for deploring,

But aught that is worth the knowing?

Seas at my feet were flowing,

Waves on the shingle pouring,

Old year roaring and blowing,

And New Year blowing and roaring.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Years that meet in tears"... That's not the case for me at the moment, I'm glad to say, but for many, it's exactly the situation. Wherever you stand on that account, it's an interesting question - what will we experience, what will we learn in 2018 that will be "worth the knowing"? And how does one position oneself to learn worthwhile things? I have to think about that. Is the poem asking - in all this noise and commotion, all this action and busyness - or "roaring and blowing", what is meaningful? It's a very good question.