In Snow Time.
How should I choose to walk the world with thee,1
Mine own beloved ? When green grass is stirred2
By summer breezes, and each leafy tree,3
Shelters the nest of many a singing bird ?4
In time of roses, when the earth doth lie5
Dressed in a garment of midsummer hues,6
Beneath a canopy of sapphire sky,7
Lulled by a soft wind’s song ? Or should I choose8
To walk with thee along a wintry road,9
Through flowerless fields, thick-sown with frosty
rime,10
rime,10
Beside an ice-bound stream, whose waters flowed11
In voiceless music all the summer time ?12
In winter dreariness, or summer glee,13
How should I choose to walk the world with thee ?14
The time of roses is the time of love,15
Ah, my dear heart ! but winter fires are bright,16
And in the lack of sunshine from above17
We tend more carefully love’s sacred light.18
The path among the roses lieth soft19
Bun-kissed and radiant under youthful feet ;20
But on a wintry way true hands more oft21
Do meet and cling in pressure close and sweet.22
There is more need of love’s supporting arm,23
Along life’s slippery pathway in its frost,24
There is more need for love to wrap us warm,25
Against life’s cold, when summer flowers are lost.26
Let others share thy life’s glad summer glow,27
But let me walk beside thee in its snow !28