Harlequin
Then we heard the winds of winter on their brazen trumpets blow
The summons for the ballet of the nimble-footed snow,
And the flakes, all silver-spangled, through the mazy meas- ures wound,
Till each finished out his figure, and took station on the ground.
And the drifts, in shining armor, and with gem-encrusted shields,
Spread their wide-deployed battalions on the drill-ground of the fields,
Till the hillside shone and shimmered with the armies of the rime,
As the Frost King gave the signal for the Christmas panto- mime !
He spread a crystal carpet on the rush-encircled pond, And looped about with ermine all the hemlock-trees be- yond: He strung his gleaming icicles along the scowling
eaves,
And decked the barren branches of the oak with snowy leaves.
