The Complete Poems of Emily Brontë, 'Twas yesterday at early dawn

LV

'Twas yesterday at early dawn
I watched the falling snow;
A drearier scene on winter morn
Was never stretched below.

I could not see the mountains round,
But I knew by the wind's wild roar,
How every drift in their glens profound
Was deepening ever more.

And then I thought of Ula's bowers,
Beyond the southern sea,
Her tropic prairies bright with flowers,
And rivers wandering free.

I thought of many a happy day
Spent in her Eden Isle
With my dear comrades young and gay,
All scattered now so far away,
But not forgot the while!

Who, that has breathed that heavenly air,
To northern climes would come,
To Gondal's mists and moorlands drear,
And sleet and frozen gloom?

Spring brings the swallow and the lark,
But what will winter bring?
Its twilight hours and evenings dark
To match the gift of spring?

No, look with me o'er that swollen main;
If my spirit's eye can see,
There are brave ships floating back again
That no calm southern port can chain
From Gondal's stormy sea.

Oh! how the hearts of voyagers beat
To feel the frost-wind blow!
What follows in Ula's garden sweet
Is worth one flake of snow.

The blast which almost rends their sail
Is welcome as a friend;
It brings them home, that thundering gale,
Home to their journey's end;

Home to our souls whose wearying sighs
Lament their absence drear;
And oh, how bright even winter skies
Would shine if they were here!

December 19, 1843.

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