SUMMER SLEIGH-BELLS.
DID you, of a summer's gloaming,
While the evening winds were roaming,
Catching fragrance as they flew
From the beds where roses grew,
Ever hear,
Far or near,
Sleigh-bells tinkling, soft and clear?
When the fireflies lit the bushes,
Gently ebbed through reeds and rushes
Twinkling brook or placid river,
Slipping smoothly on forever,
Did you hear,
Far or near,
Sleigh-bells tinkling, soft and clear?
Did your fancy bring you back
To a snowy trodden track,
Birches clad in armor bright,
Moon in heaven and fields of white?
Like a flash
On you dash,
Merrily the sleigh-bells clash?
But this mellow, mystic chime
That you hear in summer time
Is the piping of the toads,
Chorus from their tree-abodes.
Ting a ling
Hear them sing,
Universal anthem ring.
Florence Wilkinson,
in Independent.