NEW ENGLAND WINTER
Faintly the feeble sun streamed through the gray
That hung the heavens, and marked the waning day,
Then sank from sight; we could not see him go,
Only a sickly streak of yellow glow
Revealed his path. 'Then fell the shades of night,—
But not as they are wont, with silver light
From peaceful stars, or radiance from the moon
That make the winter night more fair than noon;
But with dark clouds that wrapped the fields in gloom,
Until the night was dark as Sodom's doom.
That hung the heavens, and marked the waning day,
Then sank from sight; we could not see him go,
Only a sickly streak of yellow glow
Revealed his path. 'Then fell the shades of night,—
But not as they are wont, with silver light
From peaceful stars, or radiance from the moon
That make the winter night more fair than noon;
But with dark clouds that wrapped the fields in gloom,
Until the night was dark as Sodom's doom.
Then woke the wild wind in the leafless trees
And called the Frost King from his frozen seas,
And hand in hand, they scoured the frozen earth,
And peeped in at the panes, where joy and mirth
Had gathered round some cosy kitchen hearth;
And at the sight the wild wind roared in wrath,
Awhile the bitter Frost King tried each crack,—
But soon the bright fire drove him panting back;
And called the Frost King from his frozen seas,
And hand in hand, they scoured the frozen earth,
And peeped in at the panes, where joy and mirth
Had gathered round some cosy kitchen hearth;
And at the sight the wild wind roared in wrath,
Awhile the bitter Frost King tried each crack,—
But soon the bright fire drove him panting back;
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