When in her cloudy chiton,
Spring freed the frozen rills,
And walked in rainbowed light on
The forests, fields, and hills;
Beyond the world's horizon,
That no such glory lies on,
And no such hues bedizen,
Love led us far from ills.
When Summer came, a sickle
Stuck in her sheaf of gleams,
And let the honey trickle
From out the beehives’ seams;
Within the violet-blotted
Sweet book to us alloted,—
Whose lines are starry dotted,—
Love read us still his dreams.
Then Autumn came,— a liar,
A fair-faced heretic;—
In gypsy garb of fire,
Throned on a harvest rick.—
Our lives, that fate had thwarted,
Stood pale and broken hearted,—
Though smiling when we parted,—
Where love to death lay sick.
Now is the Winter waited,
The tyrant hoar and old,
With death and hunger mated,
Who counts his crimes like gold.—
Once more before forever
We part — once more, then never —
Once more before we sever
Must I his face behold!