Flowers In Winter

How strange to greet, this frosty morn,

In graceful counterfeit of flower,

These children of the meadows, born

Of sunshine and of showers!

How well the conscious wood retains

The pictures of its flower-sown home,

The lights and shades, the purple stains,

And golden hues of bloom!

It was a happy thought to bring

To the dark season's frost and rime

This painted memory of spring,

This dream of summertime.

Flowers In Winter ~ John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892)