When dark December glooms the day,
And takes our autumn joys away;
When short and scant the sunbeam throws,
Upon the weary waste of snows,
A cold and profitless regard,
Like patron on a needy bard,
When silvan occupation’s done.
An extract from “Marmion – A Tale of Flodden Field” by Sir Walter Scott
The first lines of ‘Introduction to Canto Fifth’ dedicated to George Ellis, Esq.
[Edinburgh 1806-1808]
You can read the entire poem here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4010/4010-h/4010-h.htm
And find out more about this great work here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmion_(poem)
The wonderful image is “In the Golden Gloaming” (1883) by John Atkinson Grimshaw
