January / James Russell Lowell

from Part Second:

    I

There was never a leaf on bush or tree,
The bare boughs rattled shudderingly;
The river was dumb and could not speak,
    For the weaver Winter its shroud had spun;
A single crow on the tree-top bleak
    From his shining feathers shed off the cold sun;
Again it was morning, but shrunk and cold,
As if her veins were sapless and old,
And she rose up decrepitly
For a last dim look at earth and sea.

~~
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)
from The Vision of Sir Launfal, 1848

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

James Russell Lowell biography 

The Vision of Sir Launfal, and other poems, read by Phil Champ. 

Courtesy LibriVox and A Good Channel. (Quoted text begins at 42.17)