December in Pisces

He comes!—his deadly signals round her rise, The naked branches, and the sunless skies; Holds in his livid hands, a scaly pair, Voiceless and dull, the types of her despair. ’Mid snows, that shroud the hard and ridgy land, Stern, by his side, see blasting Silence stand; Stretch widely her petrific wand, of force To arrest the floods upon their eddying course!— The Year beholds, and with the last dismay, Her wither’d honours, and exhausted sway. Mute all her streams!—no sound,—no motion cheers, Each naked forest stands a pile of spears! And now, amid the wreck of all she gave, Shuddering she sinks in the oblivious grave.