January / Craven Langstroth Betts

January

A winter's day: the landscape veiled in white
Shimmers within the morning's lucent ray;
There is no cloud in all of heaven's height;
There is no leaf nor bird upon the spray;
The winds alone are wandering, while we
Warm sheltered sit in low-eaved privacy.

Gaily the flames leap up the chimney's throat;
The huge gnarled back-log crackles on the hearth;
Hark, how the wheel hums round its cheerful note!
It is the season of the New Year's birth.
All nature greets us smiling; ah, may Time
Spin out our threads to such a sweet-toned chime!

This life is all our portion; little we
Know of the strife and passion of the mart;
The dull round of our quiet cares, the tree,
The corn and kine make up our peaceful part;
The city's pride and longing pass us by;—
How white the world is and how blue the sky!

~~
Craven Langstroth Betts
from Selected Poems, 1916

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Craven Langstroth Betts biography