Like plundered hearts, unkerneled of sweet cheer—

Lie black and bare, exposed to rudest tread:

While still, with semblance of the Summer brave,

Soft, pitying airs float o'er its cold death-bed;

Bright flowers and motley leaves flaunt o'er its grave:

As in Earth's Autumn—so, through weeping showers,

Love sighs a mournful requiem over bygone hours.


WINTER.

Locked in a close embrace, like that of Death,