With apologies to Melanie...
Winter's Lover by Joan Story Wright
Come now, forget your April-bitten heart,
And try November's love. He's strong enough
To tear your frail, beribboned dreams apart
And make you scorn the tender for the rough
Sureness of his love-making. Come be wise;
Put springtime's wistful fantasies away
And wipe the blatant rainbows from your eyes.
Rainbows will fade, but never the gusty gray
Of winter's bleak caress. Spring buds deceive;
Not so this bitter lover. Take his hand.
He offers frank commands for weak appeals
And he will trade cold truth for make-believe,
And, for rain's phantom fragrance, the demand
Of a little muttering wind to pluck your heels.
When I read this poem the other night in my November 1951 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, it filled a hole in my heart I didn't realize I had. I can't express how much I needed it. I needed tough vigor and trust, not sweetness, not this November.
I needed belief in this month that is my favorite, belief that we will make it through the headwinds that winter might bring.
When we moved here seven years ago, RH planted two Natchez crape myrtles out front. I dearly love them but it is the old crape myrtle above that steals my heart each summer and now in the fall.
This scene is what I see outside the bathroom window. I love this tree dressed in its summer beauty but it turns my heart to mush in late October and early November. Somehow the poem seemed to go with the pictures and they both give me strength.
Because it's a long way till summer.
I'm going to try November's love.
Wow! What a post this is! I'm so taken with the words and pictures, and especially your words. "It filled a hole in my heart I didn't realize I had" Quite a poet yourself. I'm sorry that you are aching so. You've been through a lot, and I know that as I am older now, stress, worry, events take a greater toll on me, and take a lot longer to recover from, if at all.
ReplyDeleteThank you, my good friend from the New England that I've never been to and yet remain homesick for. As you and I have often found that we "get" each other, I think we do with this poem. And sometimes a little grit is the road we have to turn to. Thinking of you, Nan.
DeleteI love what you wrote. And grit is a good thing. It can help if the roads are icy!
DeleteOh my, did I ever get a laugh from the beginning of your post! I think if November here was as beautiful as it is in the south, I would like it a lot more. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHere it is, only the 2nd of November, and most of the trees are already bare. We will have one more little burst of nice weather by this weekend, then the rest of the month will be cold, gloomy, and gray.
Loved the poem and your photos!
Big smile here, Melanie, but I so sometimes feel guilty when I post of my love of these cold months because I know how very cold and long yours are. Perhaps if I lived as far north as you do I would feel differently too!
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