Page:Famous Single Poems (1924).djvu/189

 Once I was fair as the beautiful snow, With an eye like its crystals, a heart like its glow; Once I was loved for my innocent grace— Flattered and sought for the charm of my face.
 * Father,
 * Mother,
 * Sisters all,

God, and myself I have lost by my fall. The veriest wretch that goes shivering by Will take a wide sweep, lest I wander too nigh, For of all that is on or about me, I know There is nothing that’s pure but the beautiful snow.

How strange it should be that this beautiful snow Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go! How strange it would be, when the night comes again, If the snow and the ice struck my desperate brain!
 * Fainting,
 * Freezing,
 * Dying alone,

Too wicked for prayer, too weak for my moan To be heard in the crash of the crazy town, Gone mad in its joy at the snow’s coming down; To lie and to die in my terrible woe, With a bed and a shroud of the beautiful snow! John Whitaker Watson.