THESE winter nights, against my window-pane Nature with busy pencil draws designs Of ferns and blossoms and fine spray of pines, Oak-leaf and acorn and fantastic vines, Which she will make when summer comes again -- Quaint arabesques in argent, flat and cold, Like curious Chinese etchings.... By and by, I in my leafy garden as of old, These frosty fantasies shall charm my eye In azure, damask, emerald, and gold. |