Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A WINTER WALK, by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK Poet's Biography First Line: We never had believed, I wis Last Line: The sun sets o'er the barren lands. Alternate Author Name(s): Mulock, Dinah Maria Subject(s): Winter | ||||||||
WE never had believed, I wis, At primrose time when west winds stole Like thoughts of youth across the soul, In such an altered time as this, When if one little flower did peep Up through the brown and sullen grass, We should just look on it, and pass As if we saw it in our sleep. Feeling as sure as that this ray Which cottage children call the sun, Colors the pale clouds one by one, -- Our touch would make it drop to clay. We never could have looked, in prime Of April, or when July trees Shook full-leaved in the evening bree Upon the face of this pale time, Still, soft, familiar; shining bleak On naked branches, sodden ground, Yet shining -- as if one had found A smile upon a dead friend's cheek, Or old friend, lost for years, had strange In altered mien come sudden back, Confronting us with our great lack -- Till loss seemed far less sad than change. Yet though, alas! Hope did not see This winter skeleton through full leaves, Out of all bareness Faith perceives Possible life in field and tree. In bough and trunk the sap will move, And the mould break o'er springing flowers; Nature revives with all her powers, But only nature; -- never love. So, listlessly with linked hands Both Faith and Hope glide soft away; While in long shadows, cool and gray, The sun sets o'er the barren lands. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOOKING EAST IN THE WINTER by JOHN HOLLANDER WINTER DISTANCES by FANNY HOWE WINTER FORECAST by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN AT WINTER'S EDGE by JUDY JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 34 by JAMES JOYCE BY THE ALMA RIVER by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK DOUGLAS, DOUGLAS, TENDER AND TRUE by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK |
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