Douglas Clark wrote:
> January
>
> And this is my New Year
> The white snow furring the lane
> Cars trees bushes submerged
> By crisp cold snow
> This is the ritual purge
> Unstained the beauty of evening
> Tendered graciously by a streetlamp
> The wild era of my past
> Is cooled and turns to acceptance
> Of a woman loved and lost
> Of rejected poems
> But mostly of childhood
> Memories of homecomings
> Digging paths and the warrior's palace
> Sounds so muted
> That it was an elven world
> The morning air stirred no one's grave
> And now in this evening
> I number my pleasures
> Ignore the cry of beginnings
> Look forward through shadowed realms
> Toward the spire of the church
> Pointed against the orange skyglow
> The country visits me in this city
> Rings nervously at my door
> Does not knock for me
> But an invitation to country lanes
> To frozen becks the snowy fields
> I would climb the highest tree
> Ripping hands scraping shins
> To look down upon my country world
> That churchyard will it hold me?
> I am spread too far
> Pagan with my own people
>
> 1970
Doug this brought back a flood of memories for me. Of the
first time I saw snow here in Australia. We were on a caving
trip to Yarrangobilly which is in the Snowy Mountains,
driving down a dirt bush track in eucalyptus forest and it
started snowing - it was dusk and very quiet, and it was
also very very beautiful.
The white snow furring the lane
> Cars trees bushes submerged
> By crisp cold snow
> This is the ritual purge
> Unstained the beauty of evening
This captured it for me
The next morning when we woke, we went outside the old
farmhouse we were staying in and the valley was filled with
snow and there was (I kid you not) an Aussie robin hopping
around the yard.
Sounds so muted
> That it was an elven world
> The morning air stirred no one's grave
And so did this.
Interestingly I also discovered that in winter, its much
warmer _under_ground than above!
Thankyou
Josephine
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