Friday, December 21, 2012

The Throstles are Sleeping

The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;
The secret anniversaries of the heart.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


This week, I wanted to do something with a light theme for Heidi, but I was a bit stumped.

A 2006 photo of lights at Brookside Gardens (and me and younger daughter)

I found this winter/spring poem from Myths of the Norsemen by H.A. Guerber. The book is from 1909, but the myth is circa 50 B.C.:

“Out of the morning land,
Over the snowdrifts,
Beautiful Freya came
Tripping to Scoring.
White were the moorlands,
And frozen before her;
Green were the moorlands,
And blooming behind her.
Out of her gold locks
Shaking the spring flowers,
Out of her garments
Shaking the south wind,
Around in the birches
Awaking the throstles,
And making chaste housewives all
Long for their heroes home,
Loving and love-giving,
Came she to Scoring.”

********

By the way, a "throstle" is a thrush songbird. I had to look it up :-)

If you'd like more winter/holiday posts, visit The Opposite of Indifference Winter/Holiday Collection.

Robyn Hood Black and I swapped poems and gifts for our winter poem swap. I dearly loved the goodies she gave me and will talk about them next week. She has my poem for her up this week.

Heidi is our Poetry Friday host today.

8 comments:

Author Amok said...

Good morning, Tabatha! What treasures you find every week. This poem reminded me of the book "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper -- one of my favorite children's fantasy novels. The book is set in England, at Christmas. It is rich with sensory images, just like this poem.

Linda B said...

Tabatha, is "Scoring" a place, do you think? I am assuming so. Terrific to think that so long ago, a woman is there, thinking of things as we think, of homecomings, especially. I'm glad you found it! I had a lovely box from my 'poetry swap' buddy, Laura (above). We had some serendipity going! Thank you for that & this poem!

Liz Steinglass said...

I love all the -ing's. It seems to want a good strong oration. Thanks for sharing it. Happy holidays.

iza said...

That's a ovely poem you found, Tabatha. Thanks for sharing!

Joyce Ray said...

It's a lovely poem, Tabatha, with such strong images of spring overpowering winter. I love the word 'throstle'.

Heidi Mordhorst said...

Thank you, Tabatha--that is a beautiful snippet--or so it seems to me. Was there more around that? It makes me want to produce a poetry trailer, with its movement across the land and its happenings. I agree with Liz that it demands to be read out loud.

I also appreciate your Longfellow quote, and I adore your "Great Book of Winter" poem at Robyn's blog--tickles me in all the right places!

laurasalas said...

Loved seeing your picture, Tabatha--so fun to put faces with the names of poetry friends:>)

Lovely poem--I could see the action in my mind, Freya bringing spring, shaking the wind from her gown and flowers from her hair...beautiful!

Merry 2013!

Mary Lee said...

Thank you for throstles on the darkest day! Thanks also for organizing the winter poem swap -- so much fun!