Page:The Garden of Years.djvu/92

 Harlequin

THE world lay brown and barren at the closing of the year, Where the rushes shook and shuddered on the borders of

the mere, And the troubled tide ran shoreward, where the estuaries

twined Through the wide and empty marsh toward the sullen hills

behind : And the smoke-engirdled city sulked beneath the leaden

skies, With the rain-tears slowly sliding from her million window

eyes, And the fog-ghost limped and lingered past the buildings

clad in grime,

Till the Frost King gave the signal for the Christmas panto- mime!

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