The Thaw

written by


« Reload image

Hark to the avalanche snow from the roofs

O'er eaves where the icicles melt in the sun !
Hark to the musical suck of the hoofs

By the road where the ditches are ready to run !
On the slope of the hill is a patchwork of green

And the fallows are spotted with spaces of brown,
While woodlands and copses and hedges between

Have lost the white burden that weighted them
down.
The silence that came with the fall of the frost

Has broken in patter and tinkle and drip,
And murmur of wind where the pinetops are tossed

To the outermost, furthermost feathery tip.
The pigeons are back on the ridge of the roofs

And the sparrows a-twitter once more in the sun,
But dearer than all is the suck of the hoofs

That tells to the sportsman the thaw has begun.
You may sing of the diamond gems on the thorn

And the hedges all hung with a silvery sheen,
But nothing does winter so fitly adorn

As the first flashing jewels of emerald green !
Good-bye to King Frost and his murderous grip,

Let the snow and her silvery servants withdraw !
Let us back to the horn and the hound and the whip ;

Be the ploughs e'er so heavy, good luck to the
thaw !

© William Henry Ogilvie