Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Winter Piece by William Cullen Bryant

Photo courtesy of my neighbor, Rhon Van Erman

Winter is still deep in the Midwest. The nights are cold with either snow or wind or the stars of winter.

Because of my injury, my bed is downstairs by the windows. It is lovely in the day as it overlooks all my bird feeders and side yard. When darkness falls, I close the shades before the cold begins to seep back into the house.

It is cold sleeping under the windows, but on times I open the shades to let the night lull me to sleep. I pull the covers up and wait til morning.

One of my classes from Trine University was here this morning. They walked the five blocks with Brandy DePriest. She is teaching the English class in my absence. The students filled the house with their presence and their silence. Perhaps that is the first time they have visited a teacher while she holds court on her bed with her foot propped up in the air.

I started the class with poetry, as usual. Here is the poem I read to them:

from A Winter Piece

...Come when the rains
Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,
Into the bowers a flood of light.

...You might deem the spot
The spacious cavern of some virgin mine,
Deep in the womb of earth--where the gems grow,
And diamonds put forth radiant rods and bud
With amethyst and topaz--and the place
Lit up, most royally, with the pure beam
The dwells in them...

William Cullen Bryant

Make sure you read the poem out loud, it is best that way!

Until tomorrow,
Lou Ann

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