The Passing of the Year Sadness Quotes

We sort of like the way that the speaker goes after this lonely, frightened guy and pulls him out into the light a little.  Even with all the sadness, there's something kind of sweet about this.  Basically, the speaker is pausing to think of those around him and to share in their emotions, whether they are beautiful and happy or ugly and sad.  That's kind of a cool thing to do on New Year's Eve, to imagine what life is like and has been like for other people in the world.  Even though this guy may have done bad things and might feel terrible, the speaker doesn't condemn him or try to make him feel worse.

Here's just one last sad quote as a kicker.  Line for line and pound for pound, the sad stuff really does seem to outweigh the happier material.  In the end, we can't tell you exactly why that is.  Still, it seems pretty clear that thinking about sadness and dealing with its consequences is a big part of this poem.