• The sun that brief December day Rose cheerless over hills of gray, And, darkly circled, gave at noon A sadder light than waning moon.

    John Greenleaf Whittier: The sun that brief December day Rose cheerless over hills of gray, And, darkly circled, gave at noon A sadder light than waning moon.
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1873). “The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier”, p.286