Winter / Bernard Barton

Winter

Thou hast thy beauties: sterner ones, I own,
    Than those of thy precursors; yet to thee
    Belong the charms of solemn majesty
And naked grandeur. Awful is the tone
Of thy tempestuous nights, when clouds are blown
    By hurrying winds across the troubled sky;
    Pensive, when softer breezes faintly sigh
Through leafless boughs, with ivy overgrown.
Thou hast thy decorations loo; although
    Thou art austere: thy studded mantle, gay
With icy brilliants, which as proudly glow
    As erst Golconda's; and thy pure array
Of regal ermine, when the drifted snow
    Envelopes nature; till her features seem
    Like pale, but lovely ones, seen when we dream.

~~
Bernard Barton (1784-1849) 

from Poems, 1825

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Bernard Barton biography

WolfmanSF, Panoramic winter view of Crater Lake from Rim Village, 2012.

CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.