A sword of silver cuts the fields asunder—

A silver sword to-night, a lake in June—

And plains of snow reflect, the maples under,

The silver arrows of a wintry noon.

The trees are white with moonlight and with ice-pearls;

The trees are white, like ghosts we see in dreams;

The air is still: there are no moaning wind-whirls;

And one sees silence in the quivering beams.

December night, December night, how warming

Is all thy coldness to the Christian soul: