To A Tulip-Bulb

EP first,     And let the storm and winter do their worst;     Let all the garden lie     Bare to the angry sky,     The shed leaves shiver and die         Above your bed;     Let the white coverlet     Of sunlit snow be set         Over your sleeping head,     While in the earth you sleep     Where dreams are dear and deep,     And heed nor wind nor snow,     Nor how the dark moons go.

In this sad upper world where Winter's hand Has bound with chains of ice the weary land.         Then wake To see the whole world lovely for Spring's sake;     The garden fresh and fair     With green things everywhere,     And winter's want and care         Banished and fled;     Primrose and violet     In every border set,         With rain and sunshine fed.     Then bless the fairy song     That cradled you so long,     And bless the fairy kiss     That wakened you to this-- A world where Winter's dead and Spring doth reign And lovers whisper in the budding lane.