The Wish

When the trees are all bare, not a leaf to be seen
And the meadows their beauty have lost
When Nature disrob?d of her mantle green.
And the streams are fast bound with the frost.
Whilst the peasant inactive stands shiv?ring with cold,
As bleak the winds northerly blow,
And the innocent flock runs for ease to the fold,
With their fleeces all covered with snow.

In the yard when the cattle are foder?d with straw,
And they send forth their breath like a steam.
And the seat looking dairymaid finds she must thaw
Flakes of ice that she sees in her cream
With the sweet country maiden as fresh as a rose,
As she carelessly slips, often slides,
And the rustic loud laughs, if by falling she shews
All the charms that her modesty hides.

When the birds to the barn door come hovering food
As with silence they rest on the spray.
And the poor timid hare in vain seeks the woods,
Lest her footsteps her course should betray.
When the lads and the lasses in company join?d,
In a crowd round the embers are met.
Talk of fairies and witches that ride in the wind.
And of ghosts till they are in a sweat.

Heaven grant in this season it may be my lot,
With the nymph whom I love and admire
While the icicles hang from the cave of my cot
I may thither in safety retire,
Where in neatness and quiet, & free from surpriz
We may live and no hardships endure,
Nor feel any turbulent passions arise
But such as each other can cure.