Silence Before Springtime

There's silence in the springtime,
Before the birds have flown:
A waiting sunshine silence
That casts off winter's gown.
Before the bees have followed
The course upon the bloom
Before the deer have given
A breath in flowered rooms,
Before the tree has sprouted
Or streams have slapped and run
A silence coats the valleys
Like calm before the storm.
Then comes the burst of raindrops
The flying wings of life
The hymns of little songsters
That stir the melting ice:
The sudden whip of madness
Which comes from mate to mate
The sweetness, goodness, gladness
Of creatures small and great.
The silence, like a whirlwind
Has passed from hand to hand
And lies now in the pasture
Of springtime's promise land.

Sign of Spring

There's snow that coats the wooden post---
It's melting..then, the melt is lost;
The sun with chipper steps proceeds
To gobble up the post with greed.
A robin sits upon the top
He sings a song and hops a hop
Then flies away, while left behind
A blossom lies beneath the sky.
The blossom's petals blow and show
The mirrored, waving growth below
What once was cold upon the post
Is purer, melted from the snow.

The Sunshine Award

The sun shines on the golden sea:
'Tis only I, myself, and me---
The clouds, the shore, the rolling surf
The waves like aqua-swelling turf.
This, Nature, is my fair reward
And swells my soul with gentle chords
That play upon my peaceful eyes
And echo back the spreading skies.
This is the life we all must seek:
From hour, day, and rolling week...
Let us, together, feel the sod
And feeling, touch our graceful God.
*Thank you for the sunshine award, Creative A! You made my day!

Christ in Nature

From the hill and from the rill
From the beak and from the bill
Life bursts out, and life is sung:
"Reigns the King and shines the Son!"
From the summit and the deep
From those waking and asleep
Love sings out, and love declares:
"Justice great, and Savior fair!"
Oh, that all would always see
Life and love from Him who frees
He who breaks the sinful dart
Saves the soul and cures the heart.

Waves of Snow

Was it sand? Or was it snow?
Spindly lines that daily grow
Out in waves of blue and white
Vanishing upon our sight.
Was it sand? Or was it snow?
Hills and vales that flip and flow
Like the undulating hand of seas
Lost in hissing, crystal breeze.
Was it sand? Or was it snow?
Man will never guess, or know
Staring out across the space
Of the blank, uncharted place.

Allegorical Winter and Spring

Life is spring to those who love it,
To those who coddle life, and show it:
Life, to them, is petaled roses
And bits of fresh, ephemeral proses.
Although each day may pass---though brief---
They cherish soft, unfurling leaves
And winds that pass with gentle sighs
And love that never wilts or dies.
Life to those who hate, is winter
'Tis death to that engaging sinner
And darkness, filled with lakes of frost
The tidal foam, the withered moss.
In every hour, minute, day
The thought is only wrapped on pain
Despair is deep, like snowy vales
That perish in the streaking hails.
To those who love, and loving, live
'Tis spring, a time to serve and give:
To those who hate, and hating, kill
'Tis winter, breaking heart and will.

Ice Universe

Frail branches pierce the silent sky
The sun is dipped in silver dye
The moon looks like a frozen plate
And shivers down on country gates.
The stars are hid in hoary capes
Like glass, their splintered, gleaming shapes
Are paused upon the glitt'ring eye
Of lakes in dead, unflowing rye.
A puff of ice, a twirl of cloud
Are equably caught in the shroud
Of sky and stars and frozen moon
That spread across the winter gloom.

Winter Wood

A hush falls on the frozen woods,
A silence, like the trees have paused
And left a million souls of flakes
Behind them, in a gleaming wake.
A velvet cast of white is laid;
Upon the snow, a foot betrays
Where creatures roam through glen and gloom
Amongst the twilight's silver loom.
Sweet notes rise through the trilling throat
Of Blackbird, haunted by the Stoat
That hunts among the stooping leaves
And creeps past swirling, icy streams.
When dawn has come again, the thorn
Is splintered with the rising morn
And brush, and bracket, bend again
To hushed white woods, and huddled wrens.

A Christmas Reminder for the Hopeless

The dark has headed through the rain
The bells shall never swing again,
They say that snow and sleet have won
They say the night has just begun;
But so the Jewish people thought
When all the roads came down to naught,
When women far, and women near
Bore no young Son, year after year,
When stars burned bright, but never shone
The peaceful path of golden-roan,
When men worked on, and slaughtered sheep
To save the sins that all men reap.
Then from the hopeless little maid
Who bared her village scorn and shame,
From rumors dark, and tongues of hate
There burst a light, so fair and great,
So grand, that all the doubts and fears
Were melted from the stooping years,
And bells of heav'n still sweetly say,
"There's hope: it's Christmastime today!"
When dark has headed through the rain,
When bells shall never swing again,
Look back, where dimmer hearts have glowed
And triumphed, through the 'sleet and snow'.

'The Swallow' Returns to Port

Twilight on the river,
Mist upon the sea,
Lanterns in 'the Swallow'
Shining on the lee.
Sailor in the crow's nest
Eyes against the snow:
Handkerchiefs are waving,
"Captain, won't you row?"
Closer draws the Swallow
Flakes stick to her hair
Tangled sails are twisted
Cracking in the air
Sailor in the crow's nest
Shields his eye and sees
Twilight on the dockyard
Lover on the lee.
Hear the cries of women
Shouting in the breeze!
See the snowflakes falling
'Cross the turning seas!
Clouds and sun are failing,
Frost steps down in pairs;
Yet---like linen snowflakes
Kerchiefs split the air.
Tears are gladly spilling,
Hearts, thanksgiving-blessed
Winter that was killing
Now is Happiness.