| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | VI. Winter Twilight | | By Mrs. Mary Noel McDonald |
| | | BRIEF hour for thought! the dark and wintry day | |
| Is deepening into night, though no pale star | |
| To guide the traveller with its timorous ray | |
| Yet glimmers in the purple depths afar. | |
| Darkness comes stealing on;—from labor free, | 5 |
| The weary woodman seeks his cottage door, | |
| Where mirthful children on the sanded floor | |
| Leap at his coming, and press round his knee. | |
| From distant casements lights are twinkling now, | |
| Where busy matrons still the needle ply, | 10 |
| Or some pale student strains the anxious eye, | |
| And bends o’er classic page with thoughtful brow. | |
| Stir we the fire, seek fancy’s wild domain, | |
| And rear some airy fabric’s dizzy height again. | | | | |
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