'Tis a dull
To see the year dying,
When winter
Set the yellow wood sighing:
Sighing, oh! sighing.
When such a time cometh,
I do
Into and old
Beside a bright fire:
Oh, pile a bright fire!
And there I
Reading old things,
Of knights and lorn damsels,
While the wind sings— Oh, drearily sings!
I never look
Nor attend to the blast;
For all to be
Is the leaves falling fast:
Falling, falling!
But close at the hearth,
Like a cricket, sit I,
Reading of
And chivalry— Gallant chivalry!
Then with an old friendI talk of our youth!
How 'twas gladsome, but
Foolish, forsooth:
But gladsome, gladsome!
Or to get
We sing some old rhyme,
That made the wood ring
In summertime— Sweet summertime!
Then go we to smoking,
Silent and snug:
Nought passes between us,
Save a brown jug— Sometimes!
And sometimes a
Will rise in each eye,
Seeing the two old
So merrily— So merrily!
And ere to
Go we, go we,
Down on the
We kneel on the knee,
Praying together!
Thus, then, live I,
Till, 'mid all the gloom,
By heaven! the bold
Is with me in the
Shining, shining!
Then the clouds part,
Swallow soaring between;
The spring is alive,
And the meadows are green!
I jump up, like mad,
Break the old pipe in twain,
And away to the meadows,
The meadows again!
