Outside the blast is making riot,
⁠And through the darkness the snowflakes fall;
Here in my little room all is quiet,
⁠Warm and dry, and so snug withal.

Musing I sit on my cushioned settle,
⁠Facing the firelight's fitful shine;
Sings on the hob the simmering kettle,
⁠Songs that seem echoes of "auld lang syne."

And close beside me the cat sits purring,
⁠Warming her paws at the cheery gleam;
The flames keep flitting, and flickering, and whirring, -
⁠My mind is lapped in a realm of dream.

Many long, long forgotten summers
⁠Rise up, wraith-like, before my view,
Some in the brightness of masking mummers,
⁠Some with their splendors bedimmed in hue.

Lovely, serene-faced women sweetly
⁠Meanings divine in a glance convey;
Revellers, mingling among them fleetly,
⁠Caper and laugh, and are madly gay.

Marble gods in the distance tower;
⁠Near them, dream-like in beauty rare,
Is a fairy grove that has burst in flower,
⁠And sheds perfume on the moonlit air.

Castles full many of wizard story
⁠Totter along with their crests awry;
Knights behind them, in full-plumed glory,
⁠With troops of their squires come riding by.

'Tis gone! The beautiful dream is over!
⁠Away like a phantom the pageant draws!
Oh dear! The kettle is boiling over,
⁠And pussy is yelling with scalded paws.

Sweet April sat in a regal wood,
⁠And I sat down by her side;
Glad with the promise of leaf and of bud,
Flushed with the glory of Sol's bright flood, -
⁠There she sat in her queenly pride.

Out and away from the regal wood
⁠Cloud-isles hung in the motionless sky;
And the heavenly league, and the earthly rood,
Seem'd fresh from the voice that pronounced them "good," -
⁠And happy were April and I.

In and about in the regal wood
⁠The birds were full of April glee;
On a leafing elm a bold thrush stood,
Singing a song that was understood
⁠By a mate on a neighboring tree.

But a cloud came over the regal wood,
⁠In the scream of a frighted hare;
A hound pursued it eager for blood;
A squirrel nigh me shook where it stood;
⁠And I fancied the world less fair.

Then I rose to depart from the regal wood,
⁠And saw in the grass that there lay
A glittering snake with a raven hood;
The sight of it cooled and curdled my blood:
⁠I trembled, - and went on my way.

⁠When the winds go Maying,
⁠All in the woods so green,
⁠The village chimes,
⁠In the good old times,
⁠Rung out for the young May-queen.
⁠'Twas a goodly sight
⁠When the maidens bright,
⁠And the lads of generous mould,
Went out with the winds a-Maying
⁠In the merry days of old.
⁠A-Maying! A-Maying!
Went out with the winds a-Maying
⁠In the merry days of old!

⁠When the winds go Maying
⁠The emerald meadows through,
⁠'Twas a maiden freak,
⁠Each rosy cheek
⁠To bathe in the young May dew;
⁠And the dainty girls,
⁠With the dewy pearls,
⁠Decked. their hair of the silken gold,
When they went with the winds a-Maying
⁠In the merry days of old.
⁠A-Maying! A-Maying!
When they went with~ the winds a-Maying
⁠In the merry days of old!

⁠When the winds go Maying
By streamlet, grove, and hill,
⁠Young Summer, drest
⁠In her May-day vest,
⁠Will gladly hail them still.
⁠And the maidens gay
⁠Will dance and play
⁠With the lads of generous mould,
As they did when the winds went Maying
⁠In the merry days of old.
⁠A-Maying! A-Maying!
As when the winds went Maying
⁠In the merry days of old.