1870
[DON'T TALK WHEN YOU'VE NOTHING TO SAY]
It is well to be free in conversing,
It is well to be able to chat
With a friend on a subject of interest--
With a stranger on this thing or that.
Don't aim to be cold or reticent,
But listen to reason I pray,
And remember this wisest of mottos,
"Don't talk when you've nothing to say."
A gay, lively friend, or companion,
With wits that are ready and quick,
Is better by far, than a stupid,
And unconversational stick.
Yet speech at the best is but silver,
While silence is golden alway.
And remember at all times and places,
Don't talk when you've nothing to say.
I like to see well informed people
Who know what to say, how and when.
And a little good nonsense and jesting
Is not out of place, now and then.
But I dread the approach of a Magpie,
Who chatters from grave themes to gay,
Who talks from the morn to the midnight,
And always with nothing to say.
1871
[THE FROST FAIRY]
All day the trees were moaning
For the leaves that they had lost,
All day they creaked and trembled,
And the naked branches tossed
And shivered in the north wind
As he hurried up and down.
Over hill-tops bleak and cheerless,
Over meadows bare and brown.
"Oh, my green and tender leaflets.
Oh, my fair buds, lost and gone!"
So, they moaned through all the daytime,
So, they groaned till night came on.
And the hoar-frost lurked and listened
To the wailing, sad refrain,
And he whispered, "wait--be patient--
I will cover you again;
"I will deck you in new garments--
I will clothe you ere the light,
In a sheen of spotless glory--
In a robe of purest white.
You shall wear the matchless mantle,
That the good Frost Fairy weaves."
And the bare trees listened, wondered,
And forgot their fallen leaves.