Winter and January summon very different responses from people. Winter people embrace the season and enjoy its beauty and the activities. Summer people endure the cold, dark months or take flight for the sunnier southern latitudes. January is a month for reflection and for making plans for the coming year. We invite you to take a few minutes and appreciate these themes reflected in poetry.
PROMISE
By Jackie Kay
Remember, the time of year
when the future appears
like a blank sheet of paper
a clean calendar, a new chance.
On thick white snow
You vow fresh footprints
then watch them go
with the wind’s hearty gust.
Fill your glass. Here’s tae us. Promises made to be broken, made to last.
WINTER TREES
William Carlos Williams
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattirning are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared the buds
against a sure winter
The wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
WINTER SUN
Molly Fisk
How valuable it is in these short days,
threading through empty maple branches,
the lacy-needled sugar pines.
Its glint off sheets of ice tells the story
of Death’s brightness, her bitter cold.
We can make do with so little, just the hint
of warmth, the slanted light.
The way we stand there, soaking in it,
mittened fingers reaching.
And how carefully we gather what we can
to offer later, in darkness, one body to another.
WINTER IS THE BEST TIME
David Budbill
Winter is the best time
To find out who you are.
Quiet, contemplative time.
Away from the rushing world,
Cold time, dark time, holed-up,
Pulled-in time and space
To see the inner landscape,
That place hidden and within.
A special thank you to Stan Morgan for the photograph above the poem, PROMISE.
To view the previous NESTER post, THE BIG SNOWS IN PONDEROSA of 1996 & 2022 – click here
