 | The Mockers and other Verses |  |
51
THE RADIANT FROST
Mist-phantoms wove apace ere night-glooms fled
Their elfin webs of rime, till purelier stoled
Than moon-blanched lilies, glistering fold on fold,
Our frost-charmed wood beneath the dawn rose-red
A splendour grew of spangled boughs dispread
And light-flushed glades, all dazzling to behold,
With gems besprent for dew, for dust clear gold,
From wizard treasuries pearled and diamonded.
Their elfin webs of rime, till purelier stoled
Than moon-blanched lilies, glistering fold on fold,
Our frost-charmed wood beneath the dawn rose-red
A splendour grew of spangled boughs dispread
And light-flushed glades, all dazzling to behold,
With gems besprent for dew, for dust clear gold,
From wizard treasuries pearled and diamonded.
Methought: a voice among the undying Dead,
Who saw and sang, the enduring joy hath told
Of even such brief frail beauty. But instead
Came ruffling by a blast of north wind cold,
And wailed withal a word that Shelley said:
Alas, then, for the homeless beggar old!
Who saw and sang, the enduring joy hath told
Of even such brief frail beauty. But instead
Came ruffling by a blast of north wind cold,
And wailed withal a word that Shelley said:
Alas, then, for the homeless beggar old!
| The Mockers and other Verses | |