Friday, December 21, 2018

Two Poems for December


Two Poems





"In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter,
Long ago."

- Christina Rossetti




"I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

'We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December."

- Oliver Herford, "I Heard a Bird Sing"



The first poem above is the verse to one of my favorite carols of the season.  With the music of Gustave Holst  it captures a sense of nature and the season. 
The second poem provides words of endurance and encouragement that help us through the 'bleak' days of midwinter.

4 comments:

Brian Joseph said...

Thanks for posting. I really like this verse. I thought that I was the only person who thought that we are closer to spring already.

I am still trying to puzzle out thd significance of the last two words of Rossetti s poem.

Cleo @ Classical Carousel said...

Thanks for sharing these two poems, James. I've heard the first one sung as a carol by Twila Paris but not Gustave Holst so I'll have to look him up. The second one is new to me but I love the positiveness of it. However, I'm enjoying this winter so far, even with the stormy winds of yesterday here. Variety is the spice of life, so they say. :-) I hope that you have a very merry Christmas!

James said...

Brian,
Thanks for your words of encouragement. Spring is closer every day, even after the dusting of snow we received yesterday.

James said...

Cleo,
Thanks for your words of good cheer. I'll have to look for the performance of Rosetti's text that you mentioned.