Where yesterday rolled long waves of gold
Beneath the burnished blue of the sky,
A silver-white sea lies still and cold,
And a bitter wind blows by.
But nothing passes the door all day,
Though my watching eyes grow worn and dim,
Save a lean, grey wolf that swings away
To the far horizon rim.
Then, one by one, the stars glisten out
Like frozen tears on a purple pall —
The darkness folds my cabin about
And the snow begins to fall.
I will make a hearth-fire red and bright
And set a light by the window pane
For one who follows the trail to-night
That will bring him home again.
Love will ride with him my heart to bless —
Joy will out-step him across the floor —
What matters the great white loneliness
When we bar the cabin door?