THE snow and the silence came down together, Through the night so white and so still; And young folks, housed from the bitter weather, -- Housed from the storm and the chill, -- Heard in their dreams the sleigh-bells jingle, Coasted the hill-sides under the moon, Felt their cheeks with the keen air tingle, Skimmed the ice with their steel-clad shoon. They saw the snow when they rose in the morning, Glittering ghost of the vanished night, Though the sun shone clear in the winter dawning, And the day with a frosty pomp was bright. Out in the clear, cold, winter weather, -- Out in the winter air like wine, -- Kate with her dancing scarlet feather, Bess with her peacock plumage fine, Joe and Jack with their pealing laughter, Frank and Tom with their gay hallo, And half a score of roisterers after, Out in the witching, wonderful snow. Shivering graybeards shuffle and stumble, Righting themselves with a frozen frown, Grumbling at every snowy tumble; But young folks know why the snow came down. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE VOICE OF SPRING by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 28. LOVE'S TRIUMPH OVER RICHES by PHILIP AYRES TREES BE COMPANY by WILLIAM BARNES EXTRACTS FROM NEW-YEAR'S VERSES FOR 1825 by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD AN ELEGY ON THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF PEMBROKE by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) BRAW LADS O' GALLA WATER by ROBERT BURNS |