January

Northwestern Crow
Elva H. Paulsen

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;

January Holme Wood Lane

An oil painting by Tom Wormell

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.


"January"
James Russell Lowell
(1819-1891)
American Romantic poet