Lovers, forget your love,
And list to the love of these
She a window flower
And he a winter breeze.
When the frosty window veil
Was melted down at noon
And the cagèd yellow bird
Hung over her in tune,
He marked her through the pane
He could not help but mark
And only passed her by
To come again at dark.
He was a winter wind,
Concerned with ice and snow,
Dead weeds and unmated birds,
And little of love could know.
But he sighed upon the sill
He gave the sash a shake
As witness all within
Who lay that night awake
Perchance he half prevailed
To win her for the flight
From the firelit looking-glass
And warm stove-window light.
But the flower leaned aside
And thought of naught to say
And morning found the breeze
A hundred miles away.
