The poem
'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town The golden broom should blow; The hawthorn sprinkled up and down Should charge the land with snow.
Spring will not wait the loiterer's time Who keeps so long away; So others wear the broom and climb The hedgerows heaped with may.
Oh tarnish late on Wenlock Edge, Gold that I never see; Lie long, high snowdrifts in the hedge That will not shower on me.