Here is a Christmas story of the northland, in
which cities give way to pine woods, and people to
silences and snow. Get the picture each stanza
portrays as you read through the poem, and make a
mental comparison with snow scenes with which you
are familiar.
The sky was clear all yesterday,
From dawn until the sunset's flame;
But when the red had grown to gray,
Out of the west the snow clouds came.
At midnight by the dying fire, 5
Watching the spruce boughs glow and pale,
I heard outside a tumult dire,
And the fierce roaring of the gale.
Now with the morning comes a lull;
The sun shines boldly in the east
Upon a world made beautiful
In vesture for the Christmas feast.
Into the pathless waste I go, 5
With muffled step among the pines
That, robed in sunlight and soft snow,
Stand like a thousand radiant shrines.
Save for a lad's song, far and faint,
There is no sound in all the wood; 10
The murmuring pines are still; their plaint
At last was heard and understood.
Here floats no chime of Christmas bell,
There is no voice to give me cheer;
But through the pine wood all is well, 15
For God and love and peace are here.
1. What does each of the first three stanzas
portray? The last three stanzas describe the sights
and sounds as seen by whom?
2. Explain what pictures these phrases make for
you: "sunset's flame"; "spruce boughs glow and
pale"; "tumult dire"; "beautiful In vesture";
"muffled step"; "radiant shrines." Read lines 11
and 12, putting the thought in your own words.
3. Make a Christmas card, sketching one of the
scenes suggested above as the corner or center
decoration.
4. Meredith Nicholson (1866- ) is an American
writer. He is the author of several popular novels,
an essayist, and a writer of excellent verse. He
lives in Indianapolis.
("Christmas in the Pines" is used by special
courtesy of Mr. Nicholson.)