I Sit here and the earth is wrapped in snow, And the cold air is thick with falling night: I think of the still, dewy summer eves, When cows came slowly sauntering up the lane, Waiting to nibble at the juicy grass; When the green earth was full of changing life, When the warm wind blew soft, and slowly passed, Caressing now and then some wayside flower, Stopping to stir the tender maple-leaves, And breathing all its fragrance on the air! I think of the broad meadows, daisy-white, With the long shade of some stray apple-tree Falling across them,—and the rustlings faint When evening breezes shook along the grass. I think of all the thousand summer sounds,— The cricket’s chirp, repeated far and near; The sleepy note of robins in their nest; The whippoorwill, whose sudden cry rang out, Plaintive, yet strong, upon the startled air. And so it was the summer twilight fell, And deepened to the darkness of the night: And now I lift my heart out of my dream And see instead the pale, cold, dying lights, The dull gray skies, the barren, snow-clad fields, That come to us when winter evenings come.
A Twilight Fancy
More from Poet
-
I Sit here and the earth is wrapped in snow, And the cold air is thick with falling night: I think of the still, dewy summer eves, When cows came slowly sauntering up the lane, Waiting to nibble at the juicy grass; When the green earth was full of changing life, When the warm wind blew soft, and...
-
Thou hast evil And given place to the devil; Yet so cunningly thou concealest The thing which thou feelest, That no eye espieth it, Satan himself denieth it. Go where it chooseth thee, There is none that accuseth thee; Neither foe nor lover Will the wrong uncover; The world’s breath raiseth thee...
-
Say, in a hut of mean estate A light just glimmers and then is gone, Nature is seen to hesitate,— Put forth and then retract her pawn; Say, in the alembic of an eye Haughty is mixed with poor and low; Say, Truth herself is not so high But Error laughs to see her so; Say, all that...
-
The Heart soars up like a bird From a nest of care; Up, up to a larger sky, To a softer air. No eye can measure its flight And no hand can tame; It mounts in beauty and light, In music and flame. Of all the changes of Time There is none like this; The heart soars up like a bird At...