The Red-Bud, the Kentucky Tree,
Bloomed the spring to life for me
In Freelands; and the Mocking Bird
-- Nimble chorister of glee,
Sweet as poet ever heard
In a world of ecstasy --
Sang the summer, and the sun;
Sang the summer in to me.

The spring is gone! The summer gone!
The Cardinal has gone away!
The fire-flies, dancing on the lawn,
-- Each a little moon at play --
Are gone, with summer, gone away!
And, where green acres were aglow,
Daisy munches in the snow!

A snowy field! A stable piled
With straw! A donkey's sleepy pow!
A mother beaming on a child!
A manger, and a munching cow!
-- These we all remember now --
And airy voices, heard afar!
And three Magicians, and a Star!

Two thousand times of snow declare
That on the Christmas of the year
There is a singing in the air;
And all who listen for it hear
A fairy chime, a seraph strain,
Telling He is born again,
-- That all we love is born again.