 | A book of romances, lyrics, and songs |  |
SONGS AND SONNETS
150
THE FOUNTAIN IN WINTER.
The Northern winds are raw and cold,
And whistle o'er the frozen mould;
The gusty branches lash the wall
With icicles that snap and fall.
And whistle o'er the frozen mould;
The gusty branches lash the wall
With icicles that snap and fall.
There is no light on earth to-day;
The very sky is blank and gray,
Yet still the fountain's quivering shaft
Leaps as if Spring around it laughed.
The very sky is blank and gray,
Yet still the fountain's quivering shaft
Leaps as if Spring around it laughed.
The drops that strike the frozen mould
Make all the garden doubly cold,
And with a chill and shivering pain
I hear the fall of sleety rain.
Make all the garden doubly cold,
And with a chill and shivering pain
I hear the fall of sleety rain.
151
The music that, in beamy May,
Told of an endless holiday,
With surly Winter's wailings blent,
Becomes his dreariest instrument.
Told of an endless holiday,
With surly Winter's wailings blent,
Becomes his dreariest instrument.
The water's blithe and sparkling voice,
That all the summer said, “Rejoice!”
Now pours upon the bitter air
The hollow laughter of despair.
That all the summer said, “Rejoice!”
Now pours upon the bitter air
The hollow laughter of despair.
So, when the flowers of Life lie dead
Beneath a darker winter's tread,
The songs that once gave Joy a soul
Bring to the heart its heaviest dole.
Beneath a darker winter's tread,
The songs that once gave Joy a soul
Bring to the heart its heaviest dole.
The fresh delight that leaped and sung
The fragrant bowers of Youth among,
But gives to Sorrow colder tears
And laughs to mock our clouded years.
The fragrant bowers of Youth among,
But gives to Sorrow colder tears
And laughs to mock our clouded years.
| A book of romances, lyrics, and songs | |