Snowflakes and Sunbeams

by William Wilfred Campbell

 

SUNBEAMS

 

THEY weave a web of light and shade
   In leafy nooks at noon,
And in the caverns of night they spin
   The white locks of the moon;

They build the walls of Nature’s house,
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   Each smites with a golden bar;
They climb down at night on silver strands,
   And each is tied to a star;

And then at dawn they softly steal

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   In the east through their golden door,
And weave a woof of roseate hues
   On the ocean’s shimmering floor;

And every pearl of lustrous tint,
   And every gem divine

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That borrows its light from the ocean's night,
   Is the child of their airy mine;

And whether by night or whether by day
   They loosen their shining skein,
It falls down out of the heaven’s deep
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   In a silver or golden rain.