Chill

Winter has come to Florida! Since it is an occasion to be remarked upon and remembered, lasting for only approximately 48 hours out of the year, I thought I'd take a moment and capture the essence. I'm sitting in front of the fire, a cup of steaming rooibos tea (still fasting!) in front of me, and a gingery bundle of fluff supervising my writing.

The house is still, silent, and somnolent. A breeze is a susurrus in the background. I am snuggled in one of my hand knit wool sweaters, and somewhere in the distance I hear a cat faintly purring. It's a perfect time for a poem!

The Darkling Thrush

By Thomas Hardy

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fire.

The land's sharp features seemed to be
The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fevourless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

I heard on the radio this morning that approximately 85% of the country is below freezing. Stay warm everyone, and have a blessed day!