When Snow Lies Deep / William Canton

When Snow Lies Deep

When frost has burned the hedges black,
    And children cannot sleep for cold;
When snow lies deep on the withered leaves,
And roofs are white from ridge to eaves;
When bread is dear, and work is slack,
    Take pity on the poor and old!
 
The faggot and the loaf of bread
    You could not miss would be their store.
Upon how little the old can live!
Give like the poor — who freely give.
Remember, when the fire burns red
    The wolf leaves sniffing at the door.

And you whose lives are left forlorn,
    Whose sons, whose hopes, whose fires have died,
Oh, you pitiful people old,
Remember this and be consoled —
That Christ the Comforter was born,
    And still is born, in wintertide.

~~
William Canton (1845-1926)
from W.V. Her Book, and various verse, 1897

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

William Canton biography

"When Snow Lies Deep" read by Matt Rossman. Courtesy Mended Maple Poetry.