Day and Night
Midwinter Dawn
Midwinter Dawn
Sloth held me fast in pillowed nest
But the ascetic birds would not let me rest;
Such joy their clamorous hymns and praises voiced
I got me up to see why they rejoiced.
A world of pallid blue with flecks of gold;
Blue-white snowy ranges wintry-cold;
Eastward a minim wraith of silver light,
Forespent Selene in the July night.
But on the horizon o’er the sapphire sea
A radiance and a growing red adviséd me
Of the pre-eminent and primal flame
Whence all our mirth and all our music came.
Anon forth-lolling bells confirm the quire
That first had warned me of the signal fire;
This is a new day! a new day!
A new sunrise! birds, bells proclaim;
My soul concurs. There never was a day,
Nor ever will again be one, the same.