[George Simmers]

Here's my version, but maybe it's turned out too dismal for Lucy's purposes.

Hardy once heard an aged thrush whose song
At the dreary end of one more uphill year
Persuaded him not everything was wrong.
Pessimist Tom half-raised an almost-cheer,
Yet we today can't follow him in that;
Now turdus philomelos is under threat
(Efficient farming's junked his habitat -
Wild and protective hedgerows, thickly set).
Yesterday's common songbird's now so rare,
Experts predict that he might disappear;
And only a heart of stone, I think, would dare
Request him to proclaim a blithe new year.