"The Gate of the Year" is the popular name given to a poem by

Minnie Louise Haskins Minnie Louise Haskins (12 May 1875 – 3 February 1957) was a British poet and an academic in the field of sociology, best known for being quoted by King George VI in his Royal Christmas Message of 1939. Early life Haskins was born at 2 King ...

. The title given to it by the author was "God Knows". She studied and then taught at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

in the first half of the twentieth century.

Background

The poem, written in 1908 and privately published in 1912, was part of a collection titled ''The Desert''. It caught the public attention and the popular imagination when

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

quoted it in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. The poem may have been brought to his attention by his wife, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Consort). The book ''The Servant Queen and the King She Serves'' published for Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, its foreword being by that monarch, says that it was the young Princess Elizabeth herself, aged 13, who handed the poem to her father. The poem was widely acclaimed as inspirational, reaching its first mass audience in the early days of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Its words remained a source of comfort to the Queen Mother for the rest of her life, and she had its words engraved on stone plaques and fixed to the gates of the

King George VI Memorial Chapel The King George VI Memorial Chapel is part of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The chapel was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in 1962 as a burial place for her father, King George VI, and was completed in 1969. It contains the final rest ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

, where the King was interred. The Queen Mother was also buried there in 2002, and the words of "The Gate of the Year" were included in a reflection in her

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

's order of service. The poem was included in the closing moments of the 1940

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

Frank Borzage Frank Borzage (; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street Angel'' (1928), '' Bad Girl'' (1931), '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), ''Man's ...

film ''

The Mortal Storm ''The Mortal Storm'' is a 1940 American drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.''Harrison's Reports'' film review; June 22, 1940, page 98. It was directed by Frank Borzage and stars Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. The film shows the ...

'', starring

Margaret Sullavan Margaret Brooke Sullavan (May 16, 1909 – January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan began her career onstage in 1929 with the University Players. In 1933, she caught the attention of film director John M. Stahl and had ...

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

and Robert Young.

Text

THE GATE OF THE YEAR 'God Knows' And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown".
And he replied:
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way".
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East. ''So heart be still:''
''What need our little life
''Our human life to know,''
'' If God hath comprehension?''
''In all the dizzy strife''
''Of things both high and low,''
'' God hideth His intention.'' ''God knows. His will''
''Is best. The stretch of years''
''Which wind ahead, so dim''
'' To our imperfect vision,''
''Are clear to God. Our fears''
''Are premature; In Him,''
'' All time hath full provision.'' ''Then rest: until''
''God moves to lift the veil''
''From our impatient eyes,''
''When, as the sweeter features''
'' Of Life's stern face we hail,''
''Fair beyond all surmise''
''God's thought around His creatures''
'' Our mind shall fill.''The Rotarian Oct 1940. Vol. 57, No. 4. Rotary International.

References

External links

Daily Telegraph 16 Aug 2008
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gate of the Year 1908 poems Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother George VI Elizabeth II English poems