William Cullen Bryant

Song (Soon as the glazed and gleaming snow)

Soon as the glazed and gleaming snow
    Reflects the day-dawn cold and clear,
The hunter of the west must go
    In depth of woods to seek the deer.

His rifle on his shoulder placed,
    His stores of death arranged with skill,
His moccasins and snow-shoes laced,—
    Why lingers he beside the hill?

Far, in the dim and doubtful light,
    Where woody slopes a valley leave,
He sees what none but lover might,
    The dwelling of his Genevieve.

And oft he turns his truant eye,
    And pauses oft, and lingers near;
But when he marks the reddening sky,
    He bounds away to hunt the deer.