See, Thaliarch mine, how, white with snow,
Soracte mocks the sullen sky;
How, groaning loud, the woods are bowed,
And chained with frost the rivers lie.
Pile, pile the logs upon the hearth;
We'll melt away the envious cold:
And, better yet, sweet friend, we'll wet
Our whistles with some four-year-old.
Commit all else unto the gods,
Who, when it pleaseth them, shall bring
To fretful deeps and wooded steeps
The mild, persuasive grace of Spring.
Let not To-morrow, but To-day,
Your ever active thoughts engage;
Frisk, dance, and sing, and have your fling,
Unharmed, unawed of crabbed Age.
Let's steal content from Winter's wrath,
And glory in the artful theft,
That years from now folks shall allow
‘ T was cold indeed when we got left.
So where the whisperings and the mirth
Of girls invite a sportive chap,
Let's fare awhile,— aha, you smile;
You guess my meaning,— verbum sap.