Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NIGHT PIECE (2), by EDITH SITWELL



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NIGHT PIECE (2), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The cold hours pass
Last Line: Neath the wintry moon!
Subject(s): Night; Bedtime


THE cold hours pass.
As blue as glass
The beads of the frost
On the boughs are lost,

And over the empty plain of snow
King James' ghost is dragging slow.

The maids say "Ah!"
The maids say "Oh!"
Like tall fir-trees
They stand in a row,

As tall as ghosts they glimmer bright
Like the lily stars so tall and white.

But I am brave, like a fairy churn
The milk in the dairy, -- cream I turn

To butter pats like gold moidores . . .
Outside in the snow, across the floors,

In at the window, came King James,
Pointing at me his finger-flames . . .

"My bones are changed to cinnamon,
Cold as stones, 'neath the wintry moon,

For cold is the gold-kernelled berry
On the sweet cornelian cherry

Tree" . . . then over the plain of snow
No sight of the King, or high or low!

Only the blue glass beads of the frost,
In the furry boughs where King James is lost,

And the maids that fall
Down in a swoon,
One by one
'Neath the wintry moon!





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