|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FORTIFICATION, by HARRIET SEYMOUR POPOWSKI
First Line: When first we left the cool, enshadowed mountains
Last Line: Shall hearten us, this winter of disaster.
Subject(s): Nature; Winter
First Line: When first we left the cool, enshadowed mountains
Last Line: Shall hearten us, this winter of disaster.
Subject(s): Nature; Winter
When first we left the cool, enshadowed mountains,
Facing bare gulches and the prairie drought,
There stabbed into my mind this quick foreboding
Sickening my heart and silencing my mouth—
Oh, Heart, this is our winter of disaster!
So now, assailed by fears and worn by weeping,
Harboring doubt and knowing listless pain,
Hold fast, Oh Heart, the peace of quiet canyons
(Roofed with the dawn and fragrant after rain)
Through all these dreary winter days of waiting.
Recall the stubborn strength of rocky hilltops
Thrust out of earth to neighbor with the sky,
The energy of clear, persistent waters
Flowing to pools that never shall go dry
Nor freeze, though winter penetrates the shallows.
Hold fast the joy of running lads on meadows
Flooded with sun, the soughing mountain nights
When fire's fantastic arms reach brightly upward
Cheering our hearth. .... These long-remembered sights
Shall hearten us, this winter of disaster.
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
CLEONE by HARRIET SEYMOUR POPOWSKI