Classic Poem

The grasses all were lifeless, sere, and dry;
Barren the boughs, where leaves had lent their shade;
In every empty nest the snow heaped high
And water-courses in their flight were stayed;
And all the dumb and stricken solitude
Was like some undiscovered arctic zone,
Where no flower grew, where no bird reared her brood;
When presently, in silvery monotone,
The frozen streams began to sing their chimes;
As by some bold and swift enchantment wrought,
Such as we read of, in far fairy climes,
The fields and trees with green were overshot;
For Spring had come. So, Love, when you are near,
You change the whole world's frosty atmosphere.