February

I purify
With my clear rain the sombre sky; 
I wake the snowdrops from their sleep 
In the earth's bosom brown and deep: 
I am the stained world's lavender. 

Because of me 
The birds make love from tree to tree: 
I whisper to the daffodil 
Her hidden cup with gold to fill 
Since March is on his way to her. 
I bid the drooping boughs and bare 
A crown of almond blossoms wear. 

I call to Earth, 
Asleep beside her fireless hearth. 
To rise and come into the air, 
And shake the snow from feet and hair, 
What time the new lives in her stir 
And sap runs sweet in larch and fir.