Impartial to the frigid air,
We pallid cherry blossoms bear
A dreary warmth on dismal days
And Romeo on passing by
Will pause to comb his matted frays
Of toil under lidded sky
And smile as our sleeping sways
Become his absent lover’s hair.

And Juliet with windswept eyes,
While taking linens in to dry
Will hesitate to swallow deep
The tonic of restoring will
That raining wraiths for hours steep
With spices of a lonesome chill,
But we who taint the brew shall keep
Her pines of He in vast supply.

But Year by Time is seasoned strong
And autumn mutes the swallow’s song
And winter chokes the poignant flow
Of beauty from our cotton breast
And when the dawn forgets to glow—
In cambium we sleep repressed—
Depart the fickle Romeo
Who fails to tote his heart along.