DELIGHT

Winter is fallen

On the wretched grass,

Dark winds have stolen

All the colour that was.

No leaf shivers:

The bare boughs bend and creak as the wind moans by

Fled is the fitful gleam of brightness

From the stooping sky.

A robin scatters

Like bright rain his song,

Of merry matters

The sparrows gossip long.

Snow in the sky

Lingers, soon to cover the world with white,

And hush the slender enchanting music

And chill the delight.

But snow new fallen

On the stiffened grass

Gives back beauty stolen

By the winds as they pass:—

Turns the climbing hedge

Into a gleaming ladder of frozen light:

And hark, in the cold enchanted silence

A cry of delight!