Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/387

253 "For I shall bring

Curtains all wove of the silvery snow,

And drop them around—above—below,

While not a thing

That thou hast cherished its face shall show.

Fling away all

Thy fluttering leaves and faded flowers;

Too slight—too small

Their forms would seem in my lofty bowers;

For wreaths and garlands are sculptured there

Like marble, yet whiter than ever were

The chisel's triumphs—and all so light,

Like down, or gossamer streamers slight,

That a breeze can shake the branches bare.

"Oft in the night,

When wearied mortals lie warmly sleeping,

I o'er the world through the air am sweeping;

Roaming about

And tricking out

Each familiar scene like a Fairy Land;

Hanging pendants of icicles clear

From roof, shed, window—there and here,

In many a crystal and diamond spear;

And flinging pearls with a lavish hand

O'er hedge, field, fence, bush, grove, and tree,

All set in a silvery filagree.