Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Winter

How large that thrush looks on the bare thorn-tree!
A swarm of such, three little months ago,
Had hidden in the leaves and let none know
Save by the outburst of their minstrelsy.
A white flake here and there—a snow-lily
Of last night's frost—our naked flower-beds hold;
And for a rose-flower on the darkling mould
The hungry redbreast gleams. No bloom, no bee.
The current shudders to its ice-bound sedge;
Nipped in their bath, the stark reeds one by one
Flash each its clinging diamond in the sun:
'Neath winds which for this winter's sovereign pledge
Shall curb great king-masts to the ocean's edge
And leave memorial forest-kings o'erthrown. 

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 26. Mid-Rapture
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 14. Youth's Spring-Tribute
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 31. Her Gifts
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 38. The Morrow's Message
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 61. The Song-Throe

Henry Alford Winter ("Had I the wondrous magic to invest")

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