Full Lyrics
’Tis merry to hear at eveningtime,
By the blazing hearth, the sleighbells chime;
And to know each bound of the steed brings nigher
The friend for whom we have heaped the fire:
Light leap our hearts, while the listening hound
Springs forth to hail him with bark and bound.
Our cabin is small, and coarse our cheer,
But Love has spread the banquet here:
And childhood springs to be caressed
By our wellbeloved and welcome guest:
With a smiling brow his tale he tells,
While the urchins ring the merry sleighbells.
From the cedar swamp the gaunt wolves howl,
From the hollow oak loud whoops the owl,
Scared by the crash of the falling tree;
But these sounds bring terror no more to me;
No longer will I listen with boding fear,
The sleighbell’s distant chime to bear.
