Blessing of the New Year

 

GOD, bless to me the new day,
Never vouchsafed to me before;
It is to bless Thine own presence
Thou hast given me this time, O God.

Bless Thou to me mine eye,
May mine eye bless all it sees;
I will bless my neighbour,
May my neighbour bless me.

God, give me a clean heart,
Let me not from sight of Thine eye;
Bless to me my children and my wife,
And bless to me my means and my cattle.

From the  Carmina Gadelica, Volume 1,collected  by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900] THIS poem was repeated the first thing on the first day of the year. It was p. 159 common throughout the Highlands and Islands. The writer has heard versions of it in many places.