February / Sophie Jewett

February

Last night I heard a robin sing;
And though I walked where woods were bare,
And winds were cold, life quivered there,
As if in sleep the heart of spring
Were moved to dim remembering.
To-day no promise haunts the air;
I find but snow and silence where
Last night I heard a robin sing.

~~
Sophie Jewett (1861-1909), 1893
from The Pilgrim, and other poems, 1896

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Sophie Jewett biography

Kenneth Allen, Winter Robin, Mullaghmore, 2013. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Christmas / Sophie Jewett

Christmas

The Christmas bells ring discord overhead;
The angel-song fell silent long ago;
Nor seer, nor silly shepherd comes, star-led,
To kneel to-night beside a baby’s bed.
Peace is not yet, and wrong and want and woe
Cry in the city streets, and love is slow,
And sin is sleek and swift and housed and fed.

Dear Lord, our faith is faint, our hearts are sore;
Our prayers are as complaints, our songs as cries;
Fain would we hear the angel-voice once more,
And see the Star still lead along the skies;
Fain would, like sage and simple folk of yore,
Watch where the Christ-child smiles in Mary’s eyes.

~~
Sophie Jewett (1861-1909), 1893
from The Pilgrim, and other poems, 1896

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Sophie Jewett biography

I Speak Your Name / Sophie Jewett

I Speak Your Name

I speak your name in alien ways, while yet
November smiles from under lashes wet.
     In the November light I see you stand
     Who love the fading woods and withered land,
Where Peace may walk, and Death, but not Regret.

The year is slow to alter or forget;
June’s glow and autumn’s tenderness are met,
     Across the months by this swift sunlight spanned.
          I speak your name.

Because I loved your golden hair, God set
His sea between our eyes. I may not fret,
     For, sure and strong, to meet my soul’s demand,
     Comes your soul’s truth. more near than hand in hand;
And low to God, who listens, Margaret,
          I speak your name.

~~
Sophie Jewett (1861-1909)
from The Pilgrim, and other poems, 1896

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Sophie Jewett biography

"I Speak Your Name" read by Miranda. Courtesy I Would Love to Read You a Poem.