Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Winter to Spring

Winter to Spring
By Irvin W. Underhill

 

Did not I remember that my hair is grey

    With only a fringe of it left,

I’d follow your footsteps from wee break of day

    Till night was of moon-light bereft.

 

Your eyes wondrous fountains of joy and of youth

    Remind me of days long since flown,

My sweetheart, I led to the altar of truth,

    But then the gay spring was my own.

 

Now winter has come with its snow and its wind

    And made me as bare as its trees,

Oh, yes, I still love, but it’s only in mind,

    For I’m fast growing weak at the knees.

 

Your voice is as sweet as the song of a bird, 

    Your manners are those of the fawn,

I dream of you, darling,—oh, pardon, that word,

    From twilight to breaking of dawn.

 

Your name in this missive you’ll search for in vain,

    Nor mine at the finis, I’ll fling,

For winter must suffer the bliss and the pain 

In secret for loving the spring.

 

Here in Vermont, we are not quite out of winter yet. We are expecting 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow and possibly more snow on Thursday. Spring is coming though.

 

The Poet

Irvin W. Underhill was born in Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, on May 1, 1868. He is the author of Daddy’s Love and Other Poems (A.M.E. Book Concern, 1916).

4 comments:

JiEL said...

It's mostly about your altitude in the mountains.

I have good friends living in Magog in the Eastern Townships and they have more snow than we have in Montréal because of that altitude and the mountains. The wind is cooler up there and the way the weather systems travel make it more «winter» like even in the begining of Spring time.

naturgesetz said...

What hair I have left is mostly gray, and at the age of 78 I can confirm what the poet says. Our feelings and attractions remain even as our strength declines.

Joe said...

Naturgesetz, I am the same way at 43. What hair I have left is also mostly gray, but our feelings and attractions do remain the same. This is one of the reasons why i chose this poem for today.

Adam said...

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