The Frost Spirit went, like the lover light, In search of fresh beauty and bloom that night Its wing was plumed by the moon's cold ray, And noiseless it flew o'er the hills away. It flew, yet its dallying fingers played, With a thrilling touch, through the maple's shade; It toyed with the leaves of the sturdy oak, It sighed o'er the aspen, and whispering spoke To the bending sumach, that stooped to throw Its chequering shade o'er a brook below. It kissed the leaves of the beech, and breathed O'er the arching elm, with its ivy wreathed: It climbed to the ash on the mountain's height-- It flew to the meadow, and hovering light O'er leafy forest and fragrant dell, It bound them all in its silvery spell. Each spreading bough heard the whispered bliss, And gave its cheek to the gallant's kiss-- Though giving, the leaves disdainingly shook, As if refusing the boon they took. Who dreamed that the morning's light would speak, And show that kiss on the blushing cheek? For in silence the fairy work went through-- And no croning owl of the scandal knew: No watch-dog broke from his slumbers light, To tell the tale to the listening night. But that which in secret is darkly done, Is oft displayed by the morrow's sun; And thus the leaves in the light revealed, With their glowing hues what the night concealed. The sweet, frail flowers that once welcomed the morn, Now drooped in their bowers, all shrivelled and lorn; While the hardier trees shook their leaves in the blast-- Though tell-tale colors were over them cast. The maple blushed deep as a maiden's cheek, And the oak confessed what it would not speak. The beech stood mute, but a purple hue O'er its glossy robe was a witness true. The elm and the ivy with varying dyes, Protesting their innocence, looked to the skies: And the sumach rouged deeper, as stooping to look, It glanced at the colors that flared in the brook. The delicate aspen grew nervous and pale, As the tittering forest seemed full of the tale; And the lofty ash, though it tossed up its bough, With a puritan air on the mountain's brow, Bore a purple tinge o'er its leafy fold, And the hidden revel was gayly told! The Sea-Bird. [Illustration: The Sea-Bird]