Fair offspring of the clouded sky,
Descending thru the wintry night,
Pray tell me whither do you fly,
And why you take this frozen flight!
Can you within your aerial home
No longer be content to dwell?
O tell me wherefore do you come,
And what has wrought this wandering spell.
O, gently falling from the cloud,
And mingling into misty spray,
Uniting in one mighty shroud,
That covers all this world of clay!
O, beauteous symmetric form,
Little fairy flakes of snow;
The blossom of the wintry storm
Welcome to our world below!
When all the earth is cold and bare,
Forsaken by its summer growth;
And frozen wastes lie every where,
With surface rugged and uncouth,
With pliant down you cover o'er
Each frozen waste conceal from sight,
And make the air all fresh and pure,
The ground all clean and smooth and white.
Along the lane where oft we trod
'Mid dusty gale we hoped would cease,
O'er deepening mire. or frozen clod
We now may find our way in peace.
And, o'er your smooth and shining form,
On courser fleet, or cutter light
What care we for the wintry storm?
We ride by day and glide by night.
The charger leaps his halter's length!
And fiercely snuffs the wintry air;
In agony he gains in strength
Tethering drives him to despair.
At length he's free. The rein is slack,
Your soft, white cheeks the runners kiss,
As swiftly o'er the shining track
We hurl in ecstasy and bliss.
With antelope leap,with reindeer bound,
As swallow swift he flies along,
While striking with his foot the ground,
In measure with our shout and song.
And all the while the sleighbells jingle,
Jingle, jingle, thru the air
Shouts and laughter all commingle
In discordant music rare.
Such are the pleasures thou hast given
Thru thy kindly presence here,
Welcome visitor from heaven,
May we oft thy blessings share.
And when the joys of life have vanished
Swift before time's fleeting flight,
O may we rest, our labor finished
As peaceful as thy bosom white!
