Wednesday 10 March 2010

Snowdrops

My parents stand in the sunlit spaces and say
they have never seen so many snowdrops.
There are frosted drifts by the orchard gate,
in shaded woody places and on green banks
Each opal bloom luminous.

Snowdrops

Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you.

I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn't expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring--

afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy

in the raw wind of the new world.

Louise Glück

for a dear friend
whose gray elegance
reminds me of snowdrops

10 comments:

  1. One day Wellingtons, the next poetry.
    This is the stuff of wonderful reading.

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  2. That poem could not be more meaningful for me today.

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  3. Yes, that is the perfect flower.

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  4. You picked a poem that touched many a soul. Beautiful.
    Paola

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  5. Absolutely perfect - the flower and the sentiment.

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  6. What beautiful pictures to start the day. I love snowdrops - they're so delicate and perfect looking.

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  7. Beautiful words and pictures.

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  8. How lovely to be described as an elegant snow drop...I think I am more of a cauliflower!

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  9. Snowdrops have been late to open this year hopefully we will get to enjoy them for longer.

    They are truly exquisite.

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