Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/61

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SONGS UNDER THE ICE.

The worldly-wise mother  Looked over at me: "I know how to manage  Matilda, you see!"

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SONGS UNDER THE ICE.

ONCE the shining King of the winter frost  From the North came down, and the valley crossed,  Stealthily creeping; And he laughed with pride as he came to see How the wildwood rose and the great oak tree  Alike were sleeping. Over empty nests in the maples hung, Where the summer birds their songs had sung,  Noisy and jolly; Over stubble-fields, where the plover's call Had piped, in tune with the waterfall,  Notes melancholy. Then the fir tree buttoned its dark-green coat, With the brown cones, close to its dusky throat,  Grim and dreary; While the sober pine, as the sunshine paled, To the patient side of the mountain wailed  Its Miserere.