Monday, December 26, 2011

Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day!


Thursday, December 22, 2011

Mary Christ-mas




Remember
This December,
That love weighs more than gold.

~Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Doorbell Rang ... A True Story

 The doorbell rang,
From my blue chair I sprang,
Nobody was there,
Or so it was made to appear.
Then suddenly from around the corner,
Came a truck full of hearty young carolers.
It hadn't been a Christmas trick,
But a warning bell,
From the carolers to tell.
They came and they went so quick,
Singing about good old St Nick.
As they trailed out of sight,
Into the freezing December night,
I thanked them silently,
For the Christmas cheer they brought to me.

Merry Christmas, every one!

Monday, December 19, 2011

The Other Emily

Silhouette of Emily Bronte, by Elizabeth Baverstock
Emily Bronte died on this date in 1848. Her bones lay cold and still, silent and restless in her grave, but I am sure her spirit soars and frequents the moorland she loved so much. Of all the Bronte sister's dispositions and temperaments, I am most like Emily. She is like a kindred sister to me. I think it no coincidence that the other Emily, also a kindred of mine, shared the same name, too.

A DAY DREAM
by: Emily Brontë (1818-1848)
      N a sunny brae alone I lay
      One summer afternoon;
      It was the marriage-time of May,
      With her young lover, June.
       
      From her mother's heart seemed loath to part
      That queen of bridal charms,
      But her father smiled on the fairest child
      He ever held in his arms.
       
      The trees did wave their plumy crests,
      The glad birds carolled clear;
      And I, of all the wedding guests,
      Was only sullen there!
       
      There was not one, but wished to shun
      My aspect void of cheer;
      The very gray rocks, looking on,
      Asked, "What do you here?"
       
      And I could utter no reply;
      In sooth, I did not know
      Why I had brought a clouded eye
      To greet the general glow.
       
      So, resting on a heathy bank,
      I took my heart to me;
      And we together sadly sank
      Into a reverie.
       
      We thought, "When winter comes again,
      Where will these bright things be?
      All vanished, like a vision vain,
      An unreal mockery!
       
      "The birds that now so blithely sing,
      Through deserts, frozen dry,
      Poor spectres of the perished spring,
      In famished troops will fly.
       
      "And why should we be glad at all?
      The leaf is hardly green,
      Before a token of its fall
      Is on the surface seen!"
       
      Now, whether it were really so,
      I never could be sure;
      But as in fit of peevish woe,
      I stretched me on the moor,
       
      A thousand thousand gleaming fires
      Seemed kindling in the air;
      A thousand thousand silvery lyres
      Resounded far and near:
       
      Methought, the very breath I breathed
      Was full of sparks divine,
      And all my heather-couch was wreathed
      By that celestial shine!
       
      And, while the wide earth echoing rung
      To that strange minstrelsy
      The little glittering spirits sung,
      Or seemed to sing, to me:
       
      "O mortal! mortal! let them die;
      Let time and tears destroy,
      That we may overflow the sky
      With universal joy!
       
      "Let grief distract the sufferer's breast,
      And night obscure his way;
      They hasten him to endless rest,
      And everlasting day.
       
      "To thee the world is like a tomb,
      A desert's naked shore;
      To us, in unimagined bloom,
      It brightens more and more!
       
      "And, could we lift the veil, and give
      One brief glimpse to thine eye,
      Thou wouldst rejoice for those that live,
      BECAUSE they live to die."
       
      The music ceased; the noonday dream,
      Like dream of night, withdrew;
      But Fancy, still, will sometimes deem
      Her fond creation true.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

It's Emily's Birthday

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.
- Emily Dickinson



Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Fruits of Winter






Like any good season, winter's got it's high points, and here is one of them. Ruby red nuggets, not quite bitter and not quite sweet.

One of the things born in December near to my heart.  ~~Bookishkind