 | The Burdens of Belief and Other Poems |  |
JANUARY
Stern winter's cold had settled down
On all the mountains round;
And snow and ice for long had lain,
Holding the lifeless ground.
On all the mountains round;
And snow and ice for long had lain,
Holding the lifeless ground.
The spotless hills threw back by day
The sun's low rays of light:
Behind their clear, sharp edges rose
The stars that gemmed the night.
The sun's low rays of light:
Behind their clear, sharp edges rose
The stars that gemmed the night.
No river ran: in every glen,
On every channelled hill,
The muffled streamlets trickled down,
The waterfalls were still.
On every channelled hill,
The muffled streamlets trickled down,
The waterfalls were still.
92
The splendour of each morning fell
On every knoll and brae:
Soft shadows traced each least ravine
In tender blues and gray.
On every knoll and brae:
Soft shadows traced each least ravine
In tender blues and gray.
In ocean tides, whose rise and fall
Could scarce one pebble fret,
Each gleam of light, each pearly shade
With blended colours met.
Could scarce one pebble fret,
Each gleam of light, each pearly shade
With blended colours met.
The radiance of each daily sun
Died down in after-glow:
Eastward on deep empurpled skies
Flamed the red peaks of snow.
Died down in after-glow:
Eastward on deep empurpled skies
Flamed the red peaks of snow.
The nights were calm: yet through the air
An arctic breath was felt,
As round the pole-star slowly wheeled
The great Orion's belt.
An arctic breath was felt,
As round the pole-star slowly wheeled
The great Orion's belt.
With startling silence, now and then,
Athwart the skies were hurled,
In fierce combustion-streaks of light,
Some fragments of a world.
Athwart the skies were hurled,
In fierce combustion-streaks of light,
Some fragments of a world.
93
Day after day the pageant passed:
The dawn, the glare, the snow:
Eve after eve the sun went down,
Columned in lake below.
The dawn, the glare, the snow:
Eve after eve the sun went down,
Columned in lake below.
At last one darker morning broke,
And softly fell the rain;
Quickly the wind of western seas
Breathed a green earth again.
And softly fell the rain;
Quickly the wind of western seas
Breathed a green earth again.
I passed the roots of one old tree
Where birds had pecked in vain;
Some spots of white still lingered there,
Why did they thus remain?
Where birds had pecked in vain;
Some spots of white still lingered there,
Why did they thus remain?
Nearer I went, and then I saw
No relics of the frost,
But snowdrop buds that rose to speak
Of all we love the most,—
No relics of the frost,
But snowdrop buds that rose to speak
Of all we love the most,—
Returning life:—the coming year,
That one great promise kept,—
Remembered in the depths of earth
Even when Nature slept.
That one great promise kept,—
Remembered in the depths of earth
Even when Nature slept.
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The vast but inorganic world
That recks not years or space,
With cold mechanic roll of suns,
Shines with no living face.
That recks not years or space,
With cold mechanic roll of suns,
Shines with no living face.
Dread and oppressive is the sweep
Of orbs that rule our clime:
Sweet as the voice of heaven to me,
Pale flower that knew her time.
Of orbs that rule our clime:
Sweet as the voice of heaven to me,
Pale flower that knew her time.
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