Alas, winter has ended, and so in honour of the changing seasons which often mark the changes in our own lives, this week's poem is After the Winter by Claude McKay. Nature has such a profound impact on our moods and outlook, and I like to pay homage to that. Winter is a contemplative time - assessing our progress over the past year, trying to figure out what comes next and where we go. Spring, on the other hand, is such a hopeful time - everything feels fresh and new; life is full of sunshine and possibilities. I always love the arrival of spring and feeling like absolutely anything wonderful can happen. Happy spring and happy reading!
After the Winter
Some day, when trees have shed their leaves
And against the morning’s white
The shivering birds beneath the eaves
Have sheltered for the night,
We’ll turn our faces southward, love,
Toward the summer isle
Where bamboos spire the shafted grove
And wide-mouthed orchids smile.
And we will seek the quiet hill
Where towers the cotton tree,
And leaps the laughing crystal rill,
And works the droning bee.
And we will build a cottage there
Beside an open glade,
With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near,
And ferns that never fade.
- H
