VII

She was all sunshine in those dubious days;

Our cabin beaconed with defiant light;

We chattered by the friendly drift-wood blaze;

Closer and closer cowered the hag-like night.

A wolf-howl would have been a welcome sound,

And there was none in all that stricken land;

Yet with such silence, darkness, death around,

Learned we to love as few can understand.

Spirit with spirit fused, and soul with soul,

There in the sullen shadow of the Pole.