January. 15 
And catching, as he gently spake, 
A flake of falling snow, 
He breathed on it, and bade it take 
A form and bud and blow ; 
And, ere the flake had reached the earth, 
Eve smiled upon the beauteous birth, 
That seemed, amid the general dearth 
Of living things, a greater prize 
Than all her flowers in Paradise. 
“This is an earnest, Eve, to thee," 
The glorious angel said, 
*' That sun and Summer soon shall be ; 
And, though the leaves seem dead. 
Yet once again the smiling Spring, 
With wooing winds shall swiftly bring 
New life to every sleeping thing ; 
Until they wake, and make the scene 
Look fresh again and gaily green." 
The angel’s mission being ended, 
Up to Heaven he flew ; 
But where he first descended, 
And where he bade the earth adieu, 
A ring of snow-drops formed a posy 
Of pallid flowers, whose leaves, unrosy, 
Waved like a winged argosy,— 
Whose climbing masts, above the sea, 
Spread fluttering sail and streamer free. 
