I
1 Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us ...
2 Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent ...
3 Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient ...
4 Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
5 But nothing happens.
6 Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.
7 Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
......
1 Down from the hills and over the snow
2 Swift as a meteor's flash we go,
3 Toboggan! Toboggan! Toboggan!
4 Down from the hills with our senses lost,
5 Jealous of cheeks that are kissed by the frost,
6 Toboggan! Toboggan! Toboggan!
7 With snow piled high on housetop and hill,
8 O'er frozen rivulet, river, and rill,
9 Clad in her jacket of sealskin and fur,
......
January brings the snow,
makes our feet and fingers glow.
February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.
March brings breezes loud and shrill,
stirs the dancing daffodil.
April brings the primrose sweet,
......
Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray:
And, when I crossed the wild,
I chanced to see at break of day
The solitary child.
No mate, no comrade Lucy knew;
She dwelt on a wide moor,
- The sweetest thing that ever grew
Beside a human door!
......
I.
I dream of you walking at night along the streams
of the country of my birth, warm blooms and the nightsongs
of birds opening around you as you walk.
You are holding in your body the dark seed of my sleep.
II.
This comes after silence. Was it something I said
......
Amid the recent snowfall, is a sunny, yellow cascade;
For, jasmine blooms are now plunging, in cold shade.
Stark trees are forever shivering, though much alive;
Dreaming of the purple birds, and lonesome beehives.
Jasmine is blooming, on every fence and green trellis,
Like rainbow that lingers; when it has much to tell us!
The street of pink-blue skies, now brings ready smiles;
To see myriad florets, on one of nature's snowy aisles.
In the heart of winter, I stand,
Surrounded by a landscape of white silence.
The snow blankets the earth,
Each flake a delicate touch,
Soft, yet unyielding in its cold embrace.
The trees are skeletal fingers,
Reaching up to a sky of muted gray,
Their limbs bare, stripped of life,
Yet beautiful in their stark simplicity.
......
Edna Morris lived in the town of Shadow Fells, in rich green, hilly country,
With doting parents and sister Violet, plucking fruit from their plum tree.
Pretty Edna was twelve years old, but she and Violet played all seasons,
Making skinny scarecrows and fat snowmen, like blizzards of no reason.
Horses were a common sight in the area, like the pastel beauty of dawn.
The Morrises had yet to aquire one, like black velvet, once moon is gone.
Flexible friends frolicked with Violet and Edna, like thrills of the first fall;
......
Upon the earth, a soft and silent shroud,
The first snowfall whispers secrets untold,
Each flake a dream, in silver light endowed,
As nature dons her gown of purest gold.
In quiet awe, the world begins to pause,
The air, a crisp embrace, so fresh and bright,
While laughter dances, children's joyful cause,
Their footprints weave a tale in gleaming white.
......
I always long for winter,
cold but not the rain.
And enjoy the fluffy white,
covering the road and lane.
The icy woods would sparkle,
in the hazy light of sun.
Greyish the skies shall be,
after the storms have gone.
My eyes enjoy the beauty,
......