January (excerpt)


    [Image : John Watchorn]


    The schoolboy still in dithering joys
    Pastime in leisure hours employs
    And be the weather as it may
    Is never at a loss for play
    Rolling up jiant heaps of snow
    As noontide frets its little thaw
    Making rude things of various names
    Snow men or aught their fancy frames
    Till numbd wi cold they quake away
    And join at hotter sports to play
    Kicking wi many a flying bound
    The foot ball oer the frozen ground
    Or seeking bright glib ice to play
    To sailing slide the hours away
    As smooth and quick as shadows run
    When clouds in autumn pass the sun
    Some hurrying rambles eager take
    To skait upon the meadow lake
    Scaring the snipe from her retreat
    From shelving banks unfrozen seat
    Or running brook where icy spars
    Which the pale sunlight specks wi stars
    Shoots crizzling oer the restless tide
    To many a likness petrified
    Where fancy often stoops to pore
    And turns again to wonder more
    The more hen too wi fear opprest
    Starts from her reedy shelterd nest
    Bustling to get from foes away
    And scarcly flies more fast then they
    Skaiting along wi curving springs
    Wi arms spread out like herons wings
    They race away for pleasures sake
    A hunters speed along the lake

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