December

DECEMBER hail! a vest of snow
Enwraps thy shadowy form,
With aspect pale and footstep slow,
Thy harbinger a storm.
The sun now darts oblique his ray,
Scarce at meridian clear,
And mists o'erhang the shorten'd day,
Dim twilight of the year.
To skim the stream to stone congeal'd,
Advent'rous youths resort,
But many a danger lurks conceal'd,
Beneath th' alluring sport.
The hearth invites where Friendship's pow'rs
Th' expanding soul improve;
While social eve's protracted hours
With flight unheeded move.
And lo! the day which bids the mind
Exult with hallow'd mirth,
When angel-minstrels taught mankind
To hail a Saviour's birth.
While Plenty's urn with gifts o'erflows,
The festive board to spread,
The heart with food and gladness glows,
Nor wintry storms shall dread.
The breast with noblest feelings fired,
Th' unshelter'd hut explores,
Where pallid Poverty retired,
Her plaints in secret pours.
Then come, tho' Boreal blasts alarm,
And snows obscure thy day,
December, still thou hast a charm,
And still I hail thy sway.