The frost of death was on the pane

The Frost of Death was on the Pane
Protect your flower said He
Like sailors fighting with a leak
We fought Mortality -

Our passive flower we held to Sea
To mountain to the Sun
But even on his scarlet shelf
To crawl the Frost began[^a1]

[^a1: began | begun]

We pried him back
Ourselves we wedged
Himself and Her between
But easy as a narrow snake
He forked his way along -

Till all her helpless beauty bent
And then our wrath began[^a2]
We hunted him to his Ravine
We chased Him to his Den
We hated Life and hated Death
And nowhere was to go
Than Sea and Continent there is
A larger - it is Woe -

[^a2: began | begun]