Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/166



Autumn walked in glee and triumph over mountain, wood, and plain, And he looked upon their richness as a king on his domain: All too soon he waned and vanished over misty heath and meres— And the New Year stood beside me like a man of fifty years.

In a foggy cloud obscurely, entered Winter, ashy pale, And his step was hard and heavy, and he wore an icy mail; Blasting all the path before him, leapt a black wind from the north, And from stinging drifts of sleet he forged the arrows of his wrath.

Yet some beauty still was found, for when the fogs had passed away, The wide lands came glittering forward in a fresh and strange array; Naked trees had got snow foliage, soft, and feathery, and bright, And the earth looked dressed for heaven in its spiritual white.

Black and cold as iron armour lay the frozen lakes and streams; Round about the fenny plashes shone the long and pointed gleams Of the tall reeds, ice-encrusted; the old hollies jewel-spread, Warmed the white marmoreal chillness with an ardency of red.

Upon desolate morasses stood the heron like a ghost, Beneath the gliding shadows of the wild fowls' noisy host; And the bittern clamoured harshly from his nest among the sedge Where the indistinct dull moss had blurred the rugged water's edge.

But the face of Winter softened, and his lips broke into smiles, And his heart was filled with radiance as from far-enchanted isles; For across the long horizon came a light upon the way— The light of Christmas fires, and the dawning of new day.

And Winter moved not onward like the rest, but made a stand, And took the Spirit of Christmas, as a brother, by the hand; And together toward the heavens a great cry of joy they sent— And the New Year was the Old Year, and his head was grey and bent.

Then another New Year entered, like another dancing child, With his tresses as a glory, and his glances bright and wild; And he flashed his odorous torch, and he laughed out in the place, And his soul looked forth in joy and made a sunshine on his face.

Out from spire, and from turret, pealed the sudden New Year bells, Like the distant songs of angels in their fields of asphodels; And that lustrous child went sparkling to his aged father's side, And the New Year kissed the Old Year, and the Old Year gently died.