Still lie the sheltering snows, undimmed and white;
And reigns the winter's pregnant silence still;
No sign of spring, save that the catkins fill,
And willow stems grow daily red and bright.
These are the days when ancients held a rite
Of expiation for the old year's ill,
And prayer to purify the new year's will:
Fit days, ere yet the spring rains blur the sight,
Ere yet the bounding blood grows hot with haste,
And dreaming thoughts grow heavy with a greed
The ardent summer's joy to have and taste;
Fit days, to give to last year's losses heed,
To reckon clear the new life's sterner need;
Fit days, for Feast of Expiation placed!
And reigns the winter's pregnant silence still;
No sign of spring, save that the catkins fill,
And willow stems grow daily red and bright.
These are the days when ancients held a rite
Of expiation for the old year's ill,
And prayer to purify the new year's will:
Fit days, ere yet the spring rains blur the sight,
Ere yet the bounding blood grows hot with haste,
And dreaming thoughts grow heavy with a greed
The ardent summer's joy to have and taste;
Fit days, to give to last year's losses heed,
To reckon clear the new life's sterner need;
Fit days, for Feast of Expiation placed!
From "A Calendar of Sonnets" by Helen Hunt Jackson (1891)
I must check your blog more often! It's colder in Europe than here, though we are having a few cold days. They say we may have a record warm winter...........
SvaraRaderaMy witch hazel blooms as it always does in April, with little raggedy shreds and tatters that one could hardly call flowers but which have a delicious spicy scent.
not April, but February...What a strange mistake.
SvaraRaderaThis is great. It follows a bit the astrological season. Pisces, which begins on the 19th this year is rather a time for introspection, so that Aries may begin afresh on the first day of spring.
SvaraRaderaThere's no sunshine quite so bright as it is in February. It is blinding sometimes.
Kristi,
SvaraRaderaI haven't been around here a lot myself. Most every day I intend to write something though... I'll try to get better.
We have a very mild winter - and where I live, very little snow. I'm so grateful!
Nothing blooms here in February - late April is early for any plant to be brave and - maybe not bloom, but show. And witch hazel is something we can't grow, but I wish I coud have in the garden.
Nan,
i hadn't thought of the astrological aspect of it - but I think you're right.
Yes, I love the light this time of the year, when the days are getting longer. Today the sun is up from 7:50 to 16:50 - wonderful!
Margaretha