THE BEAUTY OF WINTER DAYS 



green, for winter's coat is brown and grey, and fields 

 and woods are toned in every shade; a far more varied 

 view. There where the cloud-shadow falls on distant 

 wooded slope, 'tis purple, rich and rare, while nearer 

 banks are sheened in deepest blue ; there are ultra- 

 marine patches, blues and purple-browns, bright rusty 

 reds and copper tints, the greys of boles of oak and 

 beech, the silver-w r hite of birch where fawn-coloured 

 knolls crop out to drop away in sudden fault, while 

 many a twisted fallen tree, green ivy-clad, clings to the 

 slipping bank above the 

 tiny brooks that hasten 

 down the hollows. 



And as the days 

 speed on and winter 

 slowly dies, activity of 

 tree life quickens and 

 every day transforms its 

 colours and in rapid se- 

 quence buds and barks 

 are painted all anew. 

 The silvery white silk 

 points on the goat 



21 



LENGTHENING 

 DAYS 



THE SILVER-WHITE OF KIRCH 



