In drear-nighted December, Too happy, happy tree, Thy branches ne’er remember Their green felicity: The north cannot undo them With a sleety whistle through them; Nor frozen thawings glue them From budding at the prime.
Whoever choses these inspirational poems is wise and insightful. Thank you for the blessing. In seasons of our lives when we are frozen with grief and numbed with shock because of events in the world, we work through the drear-knighted Decembers by connecting with those mourn and helping them to “feel” and “heal”. Be of good cheer Spectrum people, Jesus has “overcome the world”. Rene Gale
When I see pictures like these, memories of my childhood growing up in toledo, ohio. 10 years of going to school, taking 2 city buses, we only had one “snow day”. And we had lots of snow dumped on us because of the winds coming from Canada and blowing over Lake Erie. And as an adult living at 1500 ft elevation in SE Tennessee. We had snow when it was clear in the valley below.
But then, I do recall the year I spent in the navy in Guam. It was 11 [eleven] degrees north of the Equator. On Christmas day, I spent the day with several from the Guam Mission Clinic at the beach snorkling in the Pacific Ocean. Every day was essentially the same year round. Without a calendar one would not know what time of year it was in other parts of the Globe. 12 hour days all year long. The only interruption we had was tropical storms [a couple typhoons waved at us].
i completely agree…this exquisite look at broken romantic love by keats, through a contrast with aspects of nature which are invested with an ability to forget the joys of a happier season, is such a fitting realization for the metaphor of winter…and to think keats was only 25 when he died, having finally settled on being a poet, rather than a physician…
i also tend to like joseph joachim raff, who is vastly underrated today…i find his particular brand of program music to be quite pleasant as a background choice…too bad he lived in the romantic era and has been completely overshadowed by a handful of noteworthy musical giants…
(parenthetically, i can’t help wonder whether winter, at least here in the calgary area, is going the way of the dodo bird…this past long wknd i drove through the always stunning canadian rockies on my way to an orchestra i play in in british columbia, and couldn’t believe the lack of evidence for winter everywhere…in the canal flats area, i actually passed a large herd of black angus cattle grazing in a sunlit green meadow close to the banks of a bright blue kootenay river - in december, of all things…in radium, and even cranbrook, some people were walking around in shorts…all the mountain passes were snow-free, which of course meant everyone felt completely free to ignore posted speed limits…)