I HEARD A VOICE UPON THE WINDOW BEAT

I heard a voice upon the window beat

And then grow dim, grow still.

Opening I saw the snowy sill

Marked with the robin's feet.

Chill was the air and chill

The thoughts that in my bosom beat.

I thought of all that wide and hopeless snow

Crusting the frozen lands.

Of small birds that in famished bands

A-chill and silent grow.

And how Earth's myriad hands

Clutched only hills of frosted snow.

And then I thought of Love that beat and cried

Famishing at my breast;

How I, by chilling care distrest,

Denied him, and Love died....

O, with what sore unrest

Love's ghost woke with the bird that cried!