And somewhere sleeps the coming birth.

Folded in root and grain is lying,

The bud, the bloom we soon may see,

And in the old year now a-dying

Is hid the new year that shall be.

O what if snows be deep? so shrouded

Matures the soil with promise rife

And sap, for all the skies be clouded,

Ripens at heart a lustier life.

Then welcome winter—while we shiver