Winter Flowers

The summer queen has many flowers To deck her sunny hair, And trailing grasses, pure and sweet, To scent the heavy air; And upward through the misty sky There is a glory too, Of floating clouds and rifts of gold And depths of smiling blue.

Yet winter, too, can boast a wealth Of flowers pure and white; A kingly crown of frosted gems— A wreath of sparkling light; So bright and beautiful, indeed, It were a wondrous sight To see a world of fragile flowers Sprung up within a night.

And sometimes there are cast'es, too, Of glittering ice and snow, Piled high upon our window-panes 'Neath curtains hanging low; And they are like the castles fair Our day-dreams build for aye; A frozen mist that one warm breath May quickly drive away.

And yet, how beautiful they are, These flowers of our breath; That bloom when not a leaf is left To mourn the summer's death. And oh! how wondrous are the things That God has given the earth; The day that brings to one a death Smiles on another's birth.