Artist

Alexander Averin

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Words and Pictures




Just a  pic taken outside first thing this morning and a poem by the Welsh Poet Laureate Gillian Clarke (one of my favourite poets). This poem is from her latest collection 'Ice'.








Ode to Winter 


We hoard light, hunkered in holt and burrow,
in cave, cwtsh, den, earth, hut, lair.
Sun blinks.  Trees take down their hair.
Dusk wipes horizons, seeps into the room,
the last flame of geranium in the gloom.

In the shortening day, bring in the late flowers
to crisp in a vase, beech to break into leaf,
a branch of lark.  Take winter by the throat.
Feed the common birds, tits and finches,
the spotted woodpecker in his opera coat.

Let’s learn to love the icy winter moon,
or moonless dark and winter constellations,
Jupiter’s glow, a slow, incoming plane,
neighbourly windows,someone’s flickering screen,
a lamp-lit page, drawn curtains.

Let us praise intimacy, talk and books,
music and silence, wind and rain,
the beautiful bones of trees, taste of cold air,
darkening fields, the glittering city,
that winter longing, hiraeth, something like prayer.

Under the stilled heartbeat of trees,
wind-snapped branches, mulch and root,
a million bluebell bulbs lie low
ready to flare in lengthening light,
after the dark, the frozen earth, the snow.

Out there, fox and buzzard, kite and crow
are clearing the ground for the myth.
On the darkest day bring in the tree,
cool and pungent as forest.  Turn up the music.
Pour us a glass.  Dress the house in pagan finery.

Gillian Clarke






Our River 
 




 
More pics on my photo blog.

14 comments:

Dartford Warbler said...

Thank you for posting this beautiful poem. It captures winter so well, and the hope of spring and regeneration not so far away.

Damien said...

I hope that this email finds you well.

I recently came across caitoconnor.blogspot.com and would like to discuss the possibility of paying you to display an advertisement on the site.

We have a large customer base of clients prepared to pay to display discrete adverts, contextually matched to the content of the page on high quality sites like yours, and this can be a great way to generate an income without compromising your website.

Please email me back if you would be interested in finding out more and I will send you a follow-up email outlining the opportunity in more detail.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Vee said...

I really like the fourth stanza best. Was here earlier on the iPad, which turned out to be too much of a challenge to leave a comment, though I very much wanted to. We do better in winter, accepting winter, if we embrace it!

Writing from the Edge said...

Wonderful post Cait, and a lovely poem by a poet a don't know. Thank you for the intro.
I love winter - for all the reasons she describes so well.
You might like the poem I wrote - it was on my blog a year ago, but maybe I'll repost it, as I'd only just started the blog then.
http://lorely-writingfromtheedge.blogspot.ie/2012/01/celebration-of-winter.html
Your pictures are lovely.

Jenny said...

I've never heard of this poet ~ wonderful. I'll have to read more.

Beautiful photos as well.

xx
Jenny

Jenny said...

Oh and who is the artist for the painting you have in your banner of the girl walking to the ocean? I love it.

Fennie said...

Hallo Cait! Happy New Year. Love the b/w pictures - particularly the first one. Sad to say though I am already fed up with winter and would like to see a return of the sun!

Friko said...

She is a lovely poet, I do so agree with you.
But your pictures are very good too.

elizabeth said...

Such beautiful photos, Cait
what chill
what a curl of ice!

Barbara said...

Hello Cait. Saw your link on Elizabeth's blog. Lovely atmospheric photo. I must check out your photo link.

Pondside said...

Beautiful. The words, the cadence, the pictures they put in my head. That was a lovely way to look at winter and ways to embrace it.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.