Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WINTER SOLSTICE, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WINTER SOLSTICE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What is the time of the year?
Last Line: And god for earth is born!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Nature; Winter


WHAT is the time of the year?
What is the hour of the day?
Later at morn and sooner at eve
The pale stars shine alway;
And the low sun drifts to the south,
So wan that at height of noon
We hardly know if the dun light
Be the parting glow of the sunlight
Or the gleam of the risen moon;
And ever through shade and fleeting shine
We hear the bleak wind's rune:
'Alas, alas for the summer fled,
And earth and sky so gray!'
O for the odor of violets
That sprang with the April rain,
And the breath of the rose and the lily
That long in their graves have lain!
And O for the orchard's wealth of bloom,
And the wheat-field's waving gold! —
My heart is faint for the glory
Of harvest moons, and the story
The balmy zephyrs told!
How shall we live now earth is bare,
And the sun himself is cold,
And the blast of the bitter north goes by
Bemoaning wood and plain?

Wait! there's a thrill in the air!
See! in the south forlorn
The great sun stays his wandering beams,
And a new year finds its morn!
The stars are a-watch, and the moon;
The wailing wind drops low;
There's a murmur of daffodil meadows,
And of songs in the sylvan shadows,
And banks where the violets blow!
Let fires be lit, let shrines be decked,
And joy be lord of woe! —
The sun, victorious, mounts the sky,
And God for earth is born!





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