the archivist December 4, 2006
white and black bird on black stand

Hope

Oliver Herford (1860-1935)

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

‘We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,’
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

from The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Volume 87, edited by Josiah Gilbert Holland, Richard Watson Gilder