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Frost pictures.
The fairy fragments of some Arctic scene,
I see to-night; blank wastes of Polar snow,
Ice-laden boughs, and feathery pines that lean
Over ravines below.
I see to-night; blank wastes of Polar snow,
Ice-laden boughs, and feathery pines that lean
Over ravines below.
Black, frozen lakes, and icy peaks blown bare,
Break the white surface of the crusted pane,
And spear-like leaves, long ferns, and blossoms fair,
Linked in a silvery chain.
Break the white surface of the crusted pane,
And spear-like leaves, long ferns, and blossoms fair,
Linked in a silvery chain.
Draw me, I pray thee, by this slender thread,
Fancy, thou sorceress, bending, vision-wrought,
O'er that dim well, perpetually fed
By the clear springs of thought!
Fancy, thou sorceress, bending, vision-wrought,
O'er that dim well, perpetually fed
By the clear springs of thought!
Northward I turn, and tread those dreary strands,
Lakes where the wild-fowl breed, the swan abides;
Shores where the white fox, burrowing in the sands,
Harks to the droning tides.
Lakes where the wild-fowl breed, the swan abides;
Shores where the white fox, burrowing in the sands,
Harks to the droning tides.