Witching Softness, and Eye-Soothing Sheen

December's Moonlight
by Anne Garton 

Sure it was not remembered, placid moonlight,
When dread December darkly flitted past,
The gloomy fancy -- nought save the stormy night,
With its chill breath and wildly howling blast!
Now on the gaze fair sights are opening fast;
So purely calm, it seems almost a scene
Bestowed from Paradise! The shining queen,
Smiling on courtly stars around her cast,
In stateliest silence moves -- a golden zone
Circling her silver vest. The blue demesne
Is sweetly decked with fabrics, not of stone,
But witching softness, and eye-soothing sheen.
 Its influence lights on dreary plains below,
 For Autumn's parted spells I will not languish now.