Poetry
To Winter
FLAUNT not so boldly Thy frozen crest, Crushing so coldly The beggar's breast ; Let the lambs trot Warm to the farm, And of birds not The least take harm ; Wild winter, refrain From wounding measures,
Bring us no bane, But only thy pleasures.
For, lo, this summer My child was born ; So -blithe a newcomer Thou wilt not spurn ?
Let the last rose Bloom by our door, And those icy filmes Die on the shore.
For she is my joy,
My dream and my story—
Blow tenderly, boy, And thine be the glory.
When as thou freezest The sun must shine, The snow thou releasest Fall uncondign ; Rack not, 0 railer, The poor, nor foil Ploughman and sailor Under their tail ; ,Bringthou no cares T'affront my daughter, Spoiling the airs Sweet heaven taught her; My sweet little linnet, Nought shall annoy
With the secret in it
This one year of joy ; So live like the flowers Ere time contemn, And sleep as One slept In Bethlehem.
And sweet God, of Thy power These virtues bequeath her ; To find her own dower And not marry beneath her !
- - - - A. E. CoPPAno.
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