Little wanderer, hie thee home!’ 20

William Blake.

CLXXVI
DECEMBER MORNING.

I love to rise ere gleams the tardy light,

Winter’s pale dawn; and as warm fires illume,

And cheerful tapers shine around the room,

Through misty windows bend my musing sight,

Where, round the dusky lawn, the mansions white 5

With shutters closed peer faintly through the gloom,

That slow recedes; while yon grey spires assume,