Starvation Moon of February by Katherine L. Gordon

And now there is a paucity of words

no comfort anywhere for fox or owl

shadows of hunger paint

the February  'scape

the biting cold steals breath from breast

every living lover forgets his will for words

cannot describe his pain or prayer

fears to lose the meagre memory

of rose-flesh hours of wine beneath the trees

heat-prickle under summer-green dresses.