December.

I.

White-shrouded, latest-born of all the year,
    In thy cold hands no bud or floweret bearing,
Thou comest now to wail above the bier
    Of thy dead sisters--on thy bosom wearing
The icy jewel and the frosted gem--
But on thy marble brow the Star of Bethlehem!


II.

Beneath thy foot-prints lie the Autumn leaves,
    Mould'ring and hast'ning to decay;
And where the drifting snow its mantle weaves
    The Summer songsters sang the happy hours away.
What tho' the birds have flown the blighted stem?
There's in thy jeweled crown the Star of Bethlehem!