A Winter's Night
The scratch of Winter’s icy claws
Against my forehead made me pause
To rub the tingling of my skin
And think of warmth and light within.
But I was out for richer light,
Made brighter by the frost’s keen bite--
The air so cold, the sky so clear,
The longest evening of the year.
A crescent moon, the merest slip
Of silver light, could not outstrip
The brilliance of a million stars,
The gold of Saturn, red of Mars.
Orion’s heavy-booted tread
Would thunder on the earth. Instead
I moved through newly fallen snow,
Feet soundless on the earth below.
The pasture spread out, white and bare
And silent. Not a night to dare
The darkness of the looming pines,
A separate world where no star shines.
A small girl on a frosty night,
I turned back to my warmth and light,
My journey home illumined by
The marvel of a starry sky.
The scratch of Winter’s icy claws
Against my forehead made me pause
To rub the tingling of my skin
And think of warmth and light within.
But I was out for richer light,
Made brighter by the frost’s keen bite--
The air so cold, the sky so clear,
The longest evening of the year.
A crescent moon, the merest slip
Of silver light, could not outstrip
The brilliance of a million stars,
The gold of Saturn, red of Mars.
Orion’s heavy-booted tread
Would thunder on the earth. Instead
I moved through newly fallen snow,
Feet soundless on the earth below.
The pasture spread out, white and bare
And silent. Not a night to dare
The darkness of the looming pines,
A separate world where no star shines.
A small girl on a frosty night,
I turned back to my warmth and light,
My journey home illumined by
The marvel of a starry sky.