A Frosty Night.
By Robert von Ranke Graves
Mother
Alice, dear, what ails you,
Dazed and white and shaken?
Has the chill night numbed you?
Is it fright you have taken?
Alice
Mother, I am very well,
I felt never better,
Mother, do not hold me so,
Let me write my letter.
Mother
Sweet, my dear, what ails you?
Alice
No, but I am well;
The night was cold and frosty,
There's no more to tell.
Mother
Ay, the night was frosty,
Coldly gaped the moon,
Yet the birds seemed twittering
Through green boughs of June.
Soft and thick the snow lay,
Stars danced in the sky.
Not all the lambs of May-day
Skip so bold and high.
Your feet were dancing, Alice,
Seemed to dance on air,
You looked a ghost or angel
In the starlight there.
Your eyes were frosted starlight,
Your heart fire and snow.
Who was it said, "I love you"?
Alice
Mother, let me go!