| 
 
|
|
April
Airs: A Book of New England Lyrics
by
Bliss Carman
|
WINTER
TWILIGHT
|
|
ALONG
the wintry skyline,
Crowning the rocky crest,
Stands the bare screen of hardwood trees
Against the saffron west,—
Its gray and purple network |
5 |
Of branching
tracery
Outspread upon the lucent air,
Like weed within the sea.
The scarlet robe of autumn
Renounced and put away,
|
10 |
The
mystic Earth is fairer still,—
A Puritan in gray.
The spirit of the winter,
How tender, how austere!
Yet all the ardor of the spring |
15 |
| And
summer’s dream are here.
Fear not, O timid lover,
The touch of frost and rime!
This is the virtue that sustained
The roses in their prime.
|
20 |
The
anthem of the northwind
Shall hallow thy despair,
The benediction of the snow
Be answer to thy prayer.
And now the star of evening
|
25 |
That
is the pilgrim’s sign,—
Is lighted in the primrose dusk,—
A lamp before a shrine.
Peace fills the mighty minister,
Tranquil and gray and old, |
30 |
And
all the chancel of the west
Is bright with paling gold.
A little wind goes sifting
Along the meadow floor,—
Like steps of lovely penitents
|
35 |
Who
sighingly adore.
Then falls the twilight curtain,
And fades the eerie light,
And frost and silence turn the keys
In the great doors of night. |
40 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
