Winter

The Winter's Spring by John Clare

The winter comes; I walk alone,

I want no bird to sing;

To those who keep their hearts their own

The winter is the spring.

No flowers to please—no bees to hum—

The coming spring's already come.

I never want the Christmas rose

To come before its time;

The seasons, each as God bestows,

Are simple and sublime.

I love to see the snowstorm hing;

'Tis but the winter garb of spring.

I never want the grass to bloom:

The snowstorm's best in white.

I love to see the tempest come

And love its piercing light.

The dazzled eyes that love to cling

O'er snow-white meadows sees the spring.

I love the snow, the crumpling snow

That hangs on everything,

It covers everything below

Like white dove's brooding wing,

A landscape to the aching sight,

A vast expanse of dazzling light.

It is the foliage of the woods

That winters bring—the dress,

White Easter of the year in bud,

That makes the winter Spring.

The frost and snow his posies bring,

Nature's white spurts of the spring.