Page:May-day and other pieces, Emerson, 1867.djvu/21

Rh The whited desert knew me not,

Snow-ridges masked each darling spot;

The summer dells, by genius haunted,

One arctic moon had disenchanted.

All the sweet secrets therein hid

By Fancy, ghastly spells undid.

Eldest mason, Frost, had piled,

With wicked ingenuity,

Swift cathedrals in the wild;

The piny hosts were sheeted ghosts

In the star-lit minster aisled.

I found no joy: the icy wind

Might rule the forest to his mind.

Who would freeze in frozen brakes?

Back to books and sheltered home,

And wood-fire flickering on the walls,

To hear, when, 'mid our talk and games,

Without the baffled north-wind calls.

But soft! a sultry morning breaks;