Late lies the wintry sun a-bed
By stars, in silent night we read
A tale without a creature stirring
Save mice, and men
We dream
One must have a mind of winter
To sit still enough for stories
No lords a-leaping, maids a-milking
Pull us from the pages,
Like paper bells —
Ring out, ye bells!
Today’s story is so old
Its words are mostly memories
Exchanged like gifts:
Love be yours and love be mine
Mine to yours, yours to mine
“Peace on earth”
“Good will toward men”
Every time a bell rings
Lines in italics drawn from poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Wallace Stevens, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Christina Rossetti, and Alberto Ríos, respectively.