WINTER AND SUMMER by ALICE CARY

THE winter goes and the summer comes,
And the cloud descends in warm, wet showers;
The grass grows green where the frost has been,
And waste and wayside are fringed with flowers.

The winter goes and the summer comes,
And the merry bluebirds twitter and trill,
And the swallow swings on his steel-blue wings,
This way and that way, at wildest will.

The winter goes and the summer comes,
And the swallow he swingeth no more aloft,
And the bluebird's breast swells out of her nest,
And the horniest bill of them all grows soft.

The summer goes and the winter comes,
And the daisy dies and the daffodil dies,
And the softest bill grows horny and still,
And the days set dimly and dimly rise.

The summer goes and the winter comes
And the red fire fades from the heart o' th' rose,
And the snow lies white where the grass was bright,
And the wild wind bitterly blows and blows.

The winter comes and the winter stays,
Aye, cold and long and long and cold,
And the pulses beat to the weary feet,
And the head feels sick and the heart grows cold.

The winter comes and the winter stays,
And all the glory behind us lies,
The cheery light drops into the night,
And the snow drifts over our sightless eyes.

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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