| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | Sonnets to Winter
II. Old Wood to Burn | | By John Esten Cooke (1830–1886) |
| | | OLD wood to burn!—hew down the highest trunk | |
| On Alleghanian ridges, seen afar— | |
| A monarch crowned with his imperial star— | |
| Against the crimson where the sun has sunk. | |
| The sharp axe glittering in his kingly heart | 5 |
| Sends echo ringing through the golden woods,— | |
| And then a crashing fall!—like bursting floods | |
| When roar the surges, and great mountains part! | |
| The dim year wanes; I see an in-door sight,— | |
| Bright faces gathered round a blazing fire | 10 |
| At Yule or Pentecost when, rising higher, | |
| The frolic-mirth draws gladness from the light | |
| Of that old oak that towering once so vast | |
| Laughed at the storm, and whistled at the blast! | | | | |
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