THESE winter nights, against my window-pane
Nature with magic pencil draws designs
Of ferns and blossoms and fine spray of pines,
Oak-leaf and acorn and fantastic vines,
Which she will make when summer comes again, —
Weird arabesques in silver, flat and cold
Like curious Chinese etchings. ... By and by,
Walking my leafy garden as of old,
These frosty fantasies shall charm my eye
In azure, damask, emerald, and gold.
T. B. Aldrich.