My heart is what it was before br A house where people come and go, br But it is winter with your love: br The sashes are beset with snow. br br I light the lamp and lay the cloth, br I blow the coals to blaze again, br But it is winter with your love: br The frost is thick upon the pane. br br I know a winter when it comes: br The leaves are listless on the boughs. br I watched your love a little while, br And brought my plants into the house. br br I water them and turn them south, br And snap the dead brown from the stem, br But it is winter with your love: br I only tend and water them. br br There was a time I stood and watched br The small, ill-natured sparrows' fray; br I loved the beggar that I fed, br I cared for what he had to say, br br I stood and watched him out of sight; br Today I reach around the door br And set the bowl upon the step. br My heart is what it was before, br br But it is winter with your love: br I scatter crumbs upon the sill, br And close the window--and the birds br May take or leave them, as they will.