C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Hannah Flagg Gould (17891865)
The Frost
T
And he said, “Now I shall be out of sight;
So through the valley and over the height
In silence I’ll take my way.
I will not go like that blustering train,
The wind and the snow, the hail and the rain,
Who make so much bustle and noise in vain,
But I’ll be as busy as they!”
He climbed up the trees, and their boughs he dressed
With diamonds and pearls; and over the breast
Of the quivering lake he spread
A coat of mail, that it need not fear
The downward point of many a spear
That he hung on its margin, far and near,
Where a rock could reach its head.
And over the pane like a fairy crept:
Wherever he breathed, wherever he stepped,
By the light of the moon were seen
Most beautiful things. There were flowers and trees,
There were bevies of birds and swarms of bees,
There were cities, thrones, temples, and towers, and these
All pictured in silver sheen!
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there
That all had forgotten for him to prepare,—
“Now, just to set them a-thinking,
I’ll bite this basket of fruit,” said he;
“This costly pitcher I’ll burst in three;
And the glass of water they’ve left for me
Shall ‘tchick!’ to tell them I’m drinking.”