For dverse
When wordless winds wail, cold their desperate cry,
we huddle round the glowing stove and wait
for frost to festoon eaves and window glass,
the chill to reach deep into flesh and bone.
Yet in the meadows life goes on the same,
when wordless winds wail cold their desperate cry.
The netted stars hang frozen in the black,
unseen, though glitter fills the night with light;
we huddle round the glowing stove and wait.
Sunrise will come and break the fastest hold,
the longest night ends diamond-prismed bright
in frost that festoons eaves and window glass.
Nice use of form, Jane. I love your alliteration, and your effortless stream of imagery. I shivered reading this – pure winter.
They tell us we’re going to have a mild winter now. I hope they’re right. I shiver just thinking about it.
Oh love the way you repeated the lines… somehow you made me love winter a lot… especially the warmth inside…
and I’m trying to remember what form this is… darn, cannot do that tonight.
Cascade. You can use as many lines in a stanza as you want, but it makes the poem longer…
Its a perfect read, with rhythm.
Thanks 🙂 I think having a rhythm makes sense with this repetitive form.
Yes! 😉 This without reading aloud is perfect.
I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
🙂🙂
great use of imagery … a good one for me to read again during our long hot summer 🙂
Don’t make me jealous 🙂
hey bushfires taking homes and lives, foul air etc is not to be desired 🙂
No, I don’t envy you that!
Love how you repeat the themes in different ways and the idea and alliteration of ‘when wordless winds wail’
Thank you! The cascade form is great for that repetition with slight differences in meaning as the context changes.
You make those nights gathered around the stove sound comforting and cozy!
They are. Less so for the one who has to go out into the freezing barn to chop the wood though…
Lovely
Thank you 🙂
“netted stars”…I love it.
They make a cold night worth looking at.
Wonderful, Jane! I love frost and mist, but not cold, and your poem had me shivering – apart from the fact that there is currently no heating in my study and I’m wrapped up in a La Redoute freebie quilt and can barely feel my fingers and toes! I might take a break to warm up.
I love the alliteration and the contrast in the opening stanza, which made me long for a glowing stove – I won’t be lighting the one in the kitchen until later this afternoon. The line about frost festooning eaves and window glass reminded me of the winter of 1981, when we were living in the middle of nowhere in Ireland and got snowed in – there were icicles hanging from the bedroom ceiling!
I especially love the lines:
‘The netted stars hang frozen in the black,
unseen, though glitter fills the night with light’.
Thank you, Kim. Don’t let yourself get chilled through! The study is the only room in this house with any heating. I’d die without the stove!
Icicles from the bedroom ceiling. My idea of hell.
Filled with both cold and light. I really like the wordless winds, the way it swirls. (K)
Everything swirls in frosty winds. Last night there was a thick frosty mist and the torch beam was thick with particles that looked like a storm of frost crystals. It’s a good thing we don’t have close neighbours, they might think I was signaling to enemy aircraft or something.
I suspect they would be so busy looking inside that they wouldn’t notice.
Or wondering what kind of game I was tracking illegally…
I like the description of sunrise with the diamond-prismed bright frost.
Thank you, Frank 🙂
Sounds like winter here in Iowa! We burn wood in our furnace in coldest part of winter…warmed us cutting and stacking as well 🙂 The stark beauty makes winter bearable…wonder-full poem, Jane.
Thank you Lynn 🙂 It gets nowhere near as cold here as in Iowa. Thank goodness! The stove just about keeps one room warm as long as the outside temperatures are well above freezing.
A great line!
When wordless winds wail, cold their desperate cry,
Thanks Dwight 🙂 It’s a bit of a tongue twister!
Beautifully crafted Jane . A real sense of winter 💜
I’m beginning to feel it creeping closer…
Yes indeed, and it’s already here 💜
It can get this close, but no further!
Good luck with that 🥴