The great sun wheels his course and night draws near
For winter days are short though sharp and clear.
Again the restless wind begins to moan
Among the trees in cheerless monotone
And shake the new snow from the loaded boughs
And fill the tracks just broken by the plows.
Swiftly the shadows lengthen o'er the snow
And one one by one the constellations show;
Then night comes down and earth fantastic lies
Beneath its cold star-gleaming winter skies.
For winter days are short though sharp and clear.
Again the restless wind begins to moan
Among the trees in cheerless monotone
And shake the new snow from the loaded boughs
And fill the tracks just broken by the plows.
Swiftly the shadows lengthen o'er the snow
And one one by one the constellations show;
Then night comes down and earth fantastic lies
Beneath its cold star-gleaming winter skies.
THE WHIP-POOR-WILL
The soft, deep gloom of night on vale and hill
Half hid the glories of the summer skies,
And pearly tears, the dewdrops of the eyes,
Obscured the dusky forms that lingered still.
And while I watched, a cry pathetic, shrill,
As 'twere the voice of some forgotten wrong,
With three sad notes the burden of the song
Filled all the night with strains of "Whip-poor-will!"
A simple song beside the lark's mad flight,
A worthless song of wild, rude minstrelsy,
Half hid the glories of the summer skies,
And pearly tears, the dewdrops of the eyes,
Obscured the dusky forms that lingered still.
And while I watched, a cry pathetic, shrill,
As 'twere the voice of some forgotten wrong,
With three sad notes the burden of the song
Filled all the night with strains of "Whip-poor-will!"
A simple song beside the lark's mad flight,
A worthless song of wild, rude minstrelsy,
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