Dear Readers: Below are a few of my favorite poems about winter and snowy days. I hope you enjoy them while the days are shorter and the nights longer.
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost
“Whose woods these are I think I know. / His house is in the village though; / He will not see me stopping here / To watch his woods fill up with snow. / My little horse must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near / Between the woods and frozen lake / The darkest evening of the year. / He gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake. / The only other sound’s the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake. / The woods are lovely, dark and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep.”
“A Winter Eden” by Robert Frost
“A winter Eden in an alder swamp / Where conies now come out to sun and romp, / As near a paradise as it can be / And not melt snow or start a dormant tree. / It lifts existence on a plane of snow / One level higher than the earth below, / One level nearer heaven overhead / And last year’s berries shining scarlet red. / It lifts a gaunt luxuriating beast / Where he can stretch and hold his highest feast / On some wild apple tree’s young tender bark, / What well may prove the years’ high girdle mark. / Pairing in all known paradises ends: / Here loveless birds now flock as winter friends, / Content with bud inspecting. They presume / To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom. / A feather hammer gives a double knock. / This Eden day is done at two o’clock. / An hour of winter day might seem too short / To make it worth life’s while to wake and sport.”
“Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind” by William Shakespeare
“Blow, blow, thou winter wind, / Thou art not so unkind / As man’s ingratitude; / Thy tooth is not so keen, / Because thou art not seen, / Although thy breath be rude. / Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: / Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: / Then, heigh-ho, the holly! / This life is most jolly. / Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, / That dost not bite so nigh / As benefits forgot: / Though thou the waters warp, / Thy sting is not so sharp / As friend remembered not. / Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly … “
Appears in “As You Like It,” Act II, Scene VII.
Annie Lane’s second anthology — “How Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner?” — is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.
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