Song of Scarlet by Edwina Stanton Babcock — Read

The black-alder berries are thick this year, / (It's going to be cold); / Their scarlet trinkets, their necklaces bold / Hang on the shivering wind-swept year, / (It's going to be cold).

Now, the Commons are bare and the leaves whirl around, / (It's going to be cold); / Like little brown sparrows flicked over the around / (It's going to be cold); / But the black alder-berries like rubies embeaded / String out on the heath where the milkweed has seeded, / (It's going to be cold).

Now the wind feels the blind and the roads look severe, / (It's going to be cold); / And the locust tree's horned pods rattle and shake, / And the small bony branches grow brittle and break... / But vitality lingers in reindeer moss, / And near the holm holly the thorn-berries toss, / The bright alder-berries gleam saucy and bold, / Pile up your wood-fires -- who cares if it's cold?