Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-02-01


BY FREDERICK rEssYsos.
sc forth issew'd the Seasons ocths Years.-Sp,n,,r
out from tower and from steeple rang ths sudds
New Year bells,
Like the shorusing Of gen!i in aerial citadels
ana as they ehimed and echoed oyerthwart tn
Lo 6rlliance burst upon me- and a Mssque wen
through the room.
First the young New Year came forward, like ,
mule danclng child,
And his hair was as glory, and his eve. wer,
brIght and wild,
ana ne shook an odorous TORCH and he lau ushed but
did not speak
Ana his smile went softly rippling through the
roses Of his cheek.
houad ne looked across his shoulder; and the
Entered slowly, moved before me- paused and lin
sered on the wing;
And sne smiled and wept together with dalliance
quaint and sweet,
And her tear-drops changed to flowers underneath
neF shdins feet.
Then a landscape opened outwards. Broad, brown
woodlands stretched away
In the luminous blue distance of a windy-clear
March day;
And at o-ce lne branches kindled with light Of
And grew vita. n the sunshine as tho Spirit passed
between.
Birds flashed about the eopses, striking sharp notes
through the air;
Danced tue lambs within the meadows; crept the
snake from out his lair;
Soft as ssadow spraug the yiolets, thousands
seeming bat as one;
Flamed the crOeuses beside them, like gold drop
pings Of the sun.
Aud this Goddess of the Spring-ttat Spirit tender
and benign
Squeezed 4 vspory cloud, which vanished into
heavens crystal wine;
And she faded in the distance where the thckenlng
leaves were piled;
And the New Year had grown older, and no
longer was child.
Summer sinking languid roses from his dsw-be
Summer, in a robe Of green, and with his arms and
shoulders bare,
Next came forward and the richness of his pa
gsants filed the eve,
Breadths OF English meadows basking under meath
the happy SKY;
Long grass swayi Ing in the playing Of the almost
wea led breeze;
Flowers bowed beneath crowd of the yellow-ar-
murcd bees
sumptuous forests filed with twilight, ike
dreamy old romance:
Rivers. falling rivers calling, in their indolent ad-
vanes
Rapid, rosy-tinted lightnings, where the ROCKY
elo1ds sreriyeni
Like the Lifting Of veil before the inner courts OF
heaven;
Silver stars in azure evenings, slowing climbing up
the steep;
Corn-delds rIpenins to the harvest, and the wide
seas smooth with sleep.
Circled with these living splendors, Summer passed
non cut my sight.
Like dream tnat hlled with beauty all the caverns
OF the night;
And the vision and the presence into empty nothing
ran;
And the New Year was still older, and seemed now
Autumn Forth from glowing orchards stepped he
gayly, In gown
OF warm russet. freaked with gold, and with WIS.,
a. brown
On his head rural chaplet, wresthed with heavily
cropping grapes.
BSechanalian shapes.
Fruit aad berries rolled before him from the Years
eNh.us-iess horn,
Jetsef VINE went spinning upwards, and he hetd a |
sneal Of com;
Ard he laughed tor very Joy, and he danced from |
too mucn pleasure,
And he sans old sengs Of harvest, and be quAfsd
mighty measure.
Autumn walked in glee and triumph over noun
tam, wood. and plain.
And he looked upon their richness as a king en- his
domain
All too soon he wlned, and vanished over misty
And the rev Year stood beside me kes man o!
hiay years.
In & toggy cloud obs5urely, entered Winter. ashy
AND his step was hard and heavy, and he wore an
icy mai:
Blastins ell the path before him, leapt black
wind irC m the poTth,
AMI IRON singing dri.ts Of sleet he forged the ar
rcSs OF his wrath.
Black and cold as i'm armor lay the fr, zen lakes
Round about the tenny plsshes, shone the lcng and
pointed CLEANS
OF tue tan reeds, ice-encrusted the old hOllies.
jewel-sDread.
Warmed the white, narmoreal chiIlness with an
ardency OF red.
Upon desolats narasses, stood the heron like
Beneath the gliding shadows of the wild fowls
noisy host.
And the bittern c!ammored harshly from his nest
among the sedge,
Where the ind s,iuct dull most had blurred the
ragged waters edge.
But the face Of Winter softened, and his lips broke
into smiles,
And his Lelrl was filed with radiance as from far
For scros. tie ions horizon came light upon the
TIE ight Of Christmas fires, and the dawning of
new day.
And Winter moved no: onward, like the rest, hut
And tcok the Spirit Of Christmas, as brother, by
the hand.
And together tow'rd the heavens great cry OF joy
And the New Year was the Old Year and his head
gray and bent.
Then another New Year entered. like another dane
with hs tresses as glory, and his ElAncss bright
and Wild.
And he flashed his odorous torch, and hs laughed
cut in the place,
And his soul looked forth in joy, and made sun
shine on his lace.
Out from spire and from turret, pesled the sudden
New Year bells,
Like he slant songs OF angels in their fields Of
ssphOdels,
And that lusTous child went sparkling TO his aged
fathers SIDE,
Ard the New Year kissed the Old Year, and the Old
Year gently died
From Household Words.