Classic Poem

A Tale of Tales

There bright-lipp'd smiles, and rings of glossy hair
Were shining softly in the flick'ring glare
The ruddy-burning fire was flinging o'er
The lofty-sided hall, and stonen floor.
For while Orion, glitt'ring with his bright
Three-spangled girdle, climb'd his southern height;
And laurel leaves were gleaming in the sheen
Of downcast moonlight on the grassy green;
And chilly winds, that now no longer found
The summer's leafy boughs and dewy ground,
With shrilly-whistling eddies idly play'd
Through prickly holly in the house's shade:
There neighbours, in a widely-spanning bow,
Were sitting merry round the fire's red glow;
Each ready, as his turn might come, to hold
The others' minds with tales as yet untold.