The poem opens with a question that sounds almost ceremonial: "To what shall I liken / this New Year's, warm and brown?" That phrasing echoes the old habit of reaching for a comparison, the way poets traditionally reach for a metaphor to make an occasion feel meaningful. But the speaker never finds one. Instead the poem ends with a plain, almost offhand answer: "It happens, that's all."
What makes it work is that gap between the grand setup and the deflating finish. The New Year is described as "warm and brown," which suggests a mild, muddy winter day rather than a crisp, snowy, symbolic one. Nothing about it looks like a fresh start.
The speaker seems calm rather than disappointed. There's a quiet acceptance here, even a gentle humor. The mood is low-key and unpretentious: the new year arrives whether or not we dress it up, and the poem is content to let it be ordinary.