ALONG the wintry skyline, <br />Crowning the rocky crest, <br />Stands the bare screen of hardwood trees <br />Against the saffron west,— <br />Its gray and purple network <br />Of branching tracery <br />Outspread upon the lucent air, <br />Like weed within the sea. <br />The scarlet robe of autumn <br />Renounced and put away, <br />The mystic Earth is fairer still, — <br />A Puritan in gray. <br />The spirit of the winter, <br />How tender, how austere! <br />Yet all the ardor of the spring <br />And summer's dream are here. <br />Fear not, O timid lover, <br />The touch of frost and rime! <br />This is the virtue that sustained <br />The roses in their prime. <br />The anthem of the northwind <br />Shall hallow thy despair, <br />The benediction of the snow <br />Be answer to thy prayer. <br />And now the star of evening <br />That is the pilgrim's sign, <br />Is lighted in the primrose dusk, — <br />A lamp before a shrine. <br />Peace fills the mighty minster, <br />Tranquil and gray and old, <br />And all the chancel of the west <br />Is bright with paling gold. <br />A little wind goes sifting <br />Along the meadow floor,— <br />Like steps of lovely penitents <br />Who sighingly adore. <br />Then falls the twilight curtain, <br />And fades the eerie light, <br />And frost and silence turn the keys <br />In the great doors of night.<br /><br />Bliss William Carman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/winter-twilight/
