Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/255

 BESIDE A FAIR Y FIRE. 249

And there s wailing at Sam s, and the cat s gone

away,

And a big country-house has a mistress to-day; So I fancy that Sammy had hit on the truth, And the quarrel was ended between Lot and Ruth.

��BESIDE A FAIRY FIRE.

IF Christmas-time could only seem As it used to do, lang syne ; If one could keep their dreams, awake ; If beaded bubbles would not break Over the ebbing wine ;

If one could hear in fancy now

The reindeer on the roof, And know the merry nearing clank Beside a stocking long and lank

Would stop for our behoof;

If one could tiptoe out of bed With such a lightsome heart,

To find some jolly, kindly saint,

In memory of legend quaint, Once more had done his part ;

If one could hang a stocking now Beside some fairy fire,

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