THE WINTER SOLSTICE.
What is the time of the year?
What is the hour of the day?
Later at morn and sooner at eve
The pale stars shine alway;
And the low sun drifts to the south,
So wan that at height of noon
We hardly know if the dun light
Be the parting glow of the sunlight
Or the gleam of the risen moon;
And ever through shade and fleeting shine
We hear the bleak wind's rune:
"Alas, alas for the summer fled,
And earth and sky so gray!"
What is the hour of the day?
Later at morn and sooner at eve
The pale stars shine alway;
And the low sun drifts to the south,
So wan that at height of noon
We hardly know if the dun light
Be the parting glow of the sunlight
Or the gleam of the risen moon;
And ever through shade and fleeting shine
We hear the bleak wind's rune:
"Alas, alas for the summer fled,
And earth and sky so gray!"
O for the odor of violets
That sprang with the April rain,
And the breath of the rose and the lily
That long in their graves have lain!
And O for the orchard's wealth of bloom,
And the wheat-field's waving gold!—
My heart is faint for the glory
Of harvest moons, and the story
The balmy zephyrs told!
That sprang with the April rain,
And the breath of the rose and the lily
That long in their graves have lain!
And O for the orchard's wealth of bloom,
And the wheat-field's waving gold!—
My heart is faint for the glory
Of harvest moons, and the story
The balmy zephyrs told!
