A white mist drifts across the shrouds,     A wild moon in this wintry sky     Gleams like an angry lion's eye     Out of a mane of tawny clouds.     The muffled steersman at the wheel     Is but a shadow in the gloom; -     And in the throbbing engine-room     Leap the long rods

In the bleak mid-winter     Frosty wind made moan,     Earth stood hard as iron,     Water like a stone;     Snow had fallen, snow on snow,     Snow on snow,     In the bleak mid-winter     Long ago.     Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him     Nor earth sustain;     Heaven and earth shall flee away     When He comes

A winter garden in an alder swamp, Where conies now come out to sun and romp, As near a paradise as it can be And not melt snow or start a dormant tree. It lifts existence on a plane of snow One level higher than the earth below, One level

"Gingerbread,     Go to the head.     Your task is done;     A soul is won.     Take it and go     Where muffins grow,     Where sweet loaves rise     To the very skies,     And biscuits fair     Perfume the air.     Away, away!     Make no delay;     In the sea of flour     Plunge this hour.     Safe in your

Because the earth is vast and dark     And wet and cold;     Because man's heart wants warmth and light     Lest it grow old;     Therefore the house was built--wall, roof     And brick and beam,     By a lost hand following the lost     Delight of a dream,     And room and stair show how that

    Falling upon the frozen world last night,         I heard the slow beat of the Winter rain -          Poor foolish drops, down-dripping all in vain;     The ice-bound Earth but mocked their puny might,     Far better had the fixedness of white     And uncomplaining snows - which make no sign,     But coldly smile,