Straight thro’ a fold of purple mist
The sun goes down―a crimson wheel―
And like an opal burns the sea
That once was cold as steel.
With pomp of purple, gold and red,
Thou wilt come back at morrow’s dawn. . .
But thou can’st never bring, O Sun,
The Christmas that is gone!
“Christmas Eve” as it appears in Higginson’s When the Birds Go North Again (1898).
“Christmas Eve” appeared on the front page of Overland Monthly for their January 1893 issue.