Poems of Nature (Thoreau)/Stanzas Written at Walden

229825Poems of Nature (Thoreau) — Stanzas Written at WaldenHenry David Thoreau

STANZAS WRITTEN AT WALDEN

When Winter fringes every bough
With his fantastic wreath,
And puts the seal of silence now
Upon the leaves beneath;


When every stream in its pent-house
Goes gurgling on its way,
And in his gallery the mouse
Nibbleth the meadow hay;


Methinks the summer still is nigh,
And lurketh underneath,
As that same meadow-mouse doth lie
Snug in that last year's heath.


And if perchance the chicadee
Lisp a faint note anon,
The snow is summer's canopy,
Which she herself put on.


Fair blossoms deck the cheerful trees,
And dazzling fruits depend;
The north wind sighs a summer breeze,
The nipping frosts to fend,


Bringing glad tidings unto me,
The while I stand all ear,
Of a serene eternity,
Which need not winter fear.


Out on the silent pond straightway
The restless ice doth crack,
And pond-sprites merry gambols play
Amid the deafening rack.


Eager I hasten to the vale,
As if I heard brave news,
How Nature held high festival,
Which it were hard to lose.


I gambol with my neighbor ice,
And sympathising quake,
As each new crack darts in a trice
Across the gladsome lake.


One with the cricket in the ground,
And fagot on the hearth,
Resounds the rare domestic sound
Along the forest path.