OUTSIDE, the winter moonlight shines so peacefully upon the little cottage far away among the hills— Where within the old human drama repeats itself. The aged grandmother sits in the ruddy glow by the chimney-corner—her little grandson leans against her knee; The other children (for some have come in from a neighboring cottage, and Christmas is now approaching) sing hymn after hymn in tireless trebles, and the old grand-dad tones the bass in now and then with still melodious voice; While silent, with tired and suffering face (thinking of the week's work, and of her runaway drunken husband) the mother strips her youngest naked in the firelight. Ah! the tender dreams, the griefs, the passions, and the shattered hopes! The long culminating experience! The slow change of the words the children sing—to meanings unimagined! The flickering light on joists and rafters of the low ceiling; The old man bent with toil (road-mending now these fifty years); The rosy children with wide open mouths; the dear god whom they sing of—ever-coming, ever-expected; The rose-bud black-eyed boy against his granny's knee; And she—her white white hair, high brows, and pale transparent face—so sacred, calm, Most like the moonlight shining there without. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PECK OF GOLD by ROBERT FROST A BANJO SONG by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON HOLY THURSDAY, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE TERMINUS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON POPPY: FANTASTIC EXTRAVAGANCE by FRANCIS THOMPSON APRIL - AND DYING by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH BRIER-ROSE by HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN |