Tuesday, January 11, 2011

One wants a shawl



Something I'd like to do in 2011 is read more poetry than I did last year. I'm printing out quite a few I like and hope to spend time with, and will keep my new friends in a notebook handy. I have an old three-ring binder that can't hold another sheet, and I'll like to get re-acquainted with some of those verses, too. As I was browsing my computer collection I ran across one that I'd like to have written myself this morning.
Today's a nipping day, a biting day;

In which one wants a shawl,

A veil, a cloak, and other wraps:

I cannot ope to everyone who taps,

And let the draughts come whistling thro' my hall;

Come bounding and surrounding me,

Come buffeting, astounding me,

Nipping and clipping thro' my wraps and all.


From ‘Winter: My Secret’, Christina Rossetti.
 

5 comments:

margaret said...

I found Christina Rossetti's Collected Poems when I was cleaning up for a guest last week. She really was a wonderful poet.

M.K. said...

I would love a year of more poetry. Isn't it strange that something so relaxing and designed to make us pensive, takes such energy to DO? I love Rossetti. Thanks for this beautiful sample.

Leslie said...

Rossetti would be my poet of choice, I think, and this one describes today perfectly. That is a good goal you have. ~Leslie

Left-Handed Housewife said...

Yes, this is a good poem for today!

I love reading poetry and find I enjoy choosing a poet for a season and immersing myself in his or her work. Last summer it was Lucille Clifton, more recently Mary Oliver. I find when I read poetry regularly, I pay closer attention to the world and find it even more interesting.

xofrances

Gumbo Lily said...

Christina Rossetti is one of my favorite poets. I've not read this one of hers. We had one of those nipping biting days. It was -15 this morning and never got above 0. And then there was the east wind. Brrrr.

Jody