Hardy Weather

No doubt some folks are sick of the snow. It's March, the official first day of Spring is fast approaching, and yet there seems to be no end in sight to this white fluffy stuff.

You know what? I love it. I love winter. I love the cold, the white, the wind, the mix of harsh and soft, the slush, the ice, the days when the wind blows so hard that the windows shake in fear. I can't ski or skate or snowboard and I have no interest in hockey whatsoever. I just love the weather. You couldn't pay me to live in a tropical climate. I'm half-Jamaican – I've even lived in Jamaica for a time – and yet, the cold just beckons me. I don't think I could be as creative in a milder climate; my senses would get dulled and complacent.

Many years ago, while studying at McMaster University, my Modern British Literature prof (a delightful gentleman), introduced me to the poems of Thomas Hardy. I had read quite a few of Hardy's novels, but was not aware that he wrote poetry. I don't think his poems were his best work. But a few were quite lovely, one in particular, which I always think of when a heavenly winter day such as this descends upon the city:

Snow in The Suburbs

Every branch big with it,
Bent every twig with it;
Every fork like a white web-foot;
Every street and pavement mute;
Some flakes have lost their way, and grope back upward, when
Meeting those meandering down they turn and descend again.
The palings are glued together like a wall,
And there is no waft of wind with the fleecy fall.

A sparrow enters the tree,
Whereupon immediately
A snow-lump thrice his own slight size
Descends on him and showers his head and eyes,
And overturns him,
And near inurns him,
And lights on a nether twig, when its brush
Starts off a volley of other lodging lumps with a rush.

The steps are a blanched slope,
Up which, with feeble hope,
A black cat comes, wide-eyed and thin;
And we take him in.

Comments

[Michele]

Wonderful poem. Thank you Patricia.
Now would you mind terribly if I sent some of this bitter wind, that is blowing off the lake, to your neighbourhood?

[Scully]

Hardy is one of my faves.

We're enjoying an early spring out west. We'll pay for it in May.

[kisane]

I'm from a hot sunny country, and like you, I'm in love with winter. I remember my first snowfall when I was studying in the US. I enjoyed Hardy's poem. Want me to fedex you some golden sunshine? Not today though, it's rainy and decidedly muggy!

[Dawna & Ruth]

We are here, gazing in the glory that is your blog. You are the bar that we attain to reach 12 inches below.

Really, you are an inspiration.

Thank you for giving so much and letting us dream about what we may boldly blog one day....

Off to the Dr. tomorrow and will email you after that.

D and R