Winter-thought / Archibald Lampman

Winter-thought

The wind-swayed daisies, that on every side
    Throng the wide fields in whispering companies,
    Serene and gently smiling like the eyes
Of tender children long beatified,
The delicate thought-wrapped buttercups that glide
    Like sparks of fire above the wavering grass,
    And swing and toss with all the airs that pass,
Yet seem so peaceful, so preoccupied;

These are the emblems of pure pleasures flown,
    I scarce can think of pleasure without these.
Even to dream of them is to disown
    The cold forlorn midwinter reveries,
Lulled with the perfume of old hopes new-blown,
    No longer dreams, but dear realities.

~~
Archibald Lampman (1861-1899)
from Among the Millet, and other poems, 1888

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Archibald Lampman biography

Evelyn Simak, Buttersups in the marshes, 2008 (detail). CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

March's featured poem

    

The Penny Blog's featured poem for March 2023:

Mars & Avril, by George J. Dance

Mars the Brat marched in with the melting snow,
blew around town, whistling at all the chicks
and trying to lift up every second skirt
[...]

https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2010/04/mars-avril-george-dance.html

Penny's Top 20 / February 2023

                       

Penny's Top 20

The most-visited poems on  The Penny Blog in February 2023:

  1.  Winter Ghost (Taking a Time Out), Will Dockery

  2.  February, James Berry Bensel

  3.  To Helen, Edgar Allan Poe

  4.  The Branch, AE Reiff

  5.  Penny, or Penny's Hat, George J. Dance
  6.  February Days, Ellwood Roberts
  7.  In Memory of a Happy Day in February, Anne Brontë

  8.  The Key, George J. Dance
  9.  News, AE Reiff

10.  February, H. Cordelia Ray

11.  Skating, William Wordsworth
12.  February, Walter Thornbury
13.  February Gems, Allen R. Darrow

14.  To February, Ethelwyn Wetherald
15.  February Rain, Charles Dazey
16.  Poem with Rhythms, Wallace Stevens
17.  Ode to Sport, Pierre de Coubertin

18.  February, William Morris
19.  Esthetique du Mal, Wallace Stevens

20. Card Game, Frank Prewitt

Source: Blogger, "Stats"  

February / H. Cordelia Ray

from The Procession of the Seasons

February

    The icicles upon the pane
    Are busy architects; they leave
What temples and what chiseled forms
    Of leaf and flower. Then believe
That though the woods be brown and bare,
    And sunbeams peep through cloudy veils,
Though tempests houwl through leaden skies,
    The Springtime never fails!

~~
H. Cordelia Ray (1852-1916)
from Poems, 1910

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

[March]

H. Cordelia Ray biography

Alexandr frolov, Frost on window, 2011. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

February / Walter Thornbury

February

Acabashi, Copped Hall, Epping UK. 2019. 

CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

The time when skies are free from cloud,
Though still the robin whistles loud
    In the bare garden croft,
The catkin, on the hazel tree,
Mistakes for summer flower the bee,
    And round it hovers oft.

Winter's last sigh, from frozen north,
Withers the flower that ventures forth;
    And there is wanting still
The unseen warmth, the mellow note
Of the wild bird with dappled coat,
    Though faster flows the rill.

When, from his winter home, the snake
Creeps stealthy through the withered brake,
    And thoughtless of the past,
The young leaves open overhead,
Though still their fathers, sere and dead,
    Are hurried by the blast.

~~ 

Walter Thornbury (1826-1876)
from Lays and Legends; or, Ballads of the New World, 1851

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Walter Thornbury biography

February Rain / Charles Dazey

February Rain

O lonely day! No sounds are heard
    Save winds and floods that downward pour,
And timid fluting of a bird,
    That pipes one low note o'er and o'er.

Before the blast the bare trees lean,
    The ragged clouds sail low and gray,
And all the wild and wintry scene
    Is but one blur of driving spray.

O day most meet for memories,
    For musing by a vacant hearth
On that which was and that which is,
    And those who walk no more on earth!

And yet this dark and dreary day
    Some brighter lesson still can bring,
For it is herald of the May,
    A faint foretoken of the spring.

Beneath the ceaseless-beating rain
    Earth's snowy shroud fast disappears,
As sorrow pressing on the brain,
    Fades in a flood of happy tears.

And thus in darkness oft is wrought,
    Through lonely days of tears and grief,
The gradual change by which is brought
    To shadowed lives some sweet relief.

~~
Charles Dazey (1855-1938)

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

Charles Dazey biography

Bailiwick Studios, Rain Puddles, 2016. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

February Gems / Allen R. Darrow

February Gems

To wondering children in the ages old,
I've often heard that mystic tales were told
Of fairy lands, where oft on trees and bowers
There fell from heaven pure crystal gems in showers.
Well, I believe, and so I think must you
That myths are shadows sometimes of the true;
For going forth upon a winter morn
A wondrous glory did the day adorn,
On every tree along the city street,
What matchless splendor did my vision greet.
Pendant from silver-coated branch and stem,
In argent beauty hung a brilliant gem;
Sparkling in candescent glory bright,
Shone myriad diamonds in the morning light.
Nature from its exhaustless wealth and store,
Through every street and by-way o'er and o'er,
Prodigal alike to all the rich and poor
Had scattered rivals to the Khoinoor.

~~
Allen R. Darrow (1826-1926)
from Iphigenia, and other poems, 1888

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Allen R. Darrow biography

Andre Cotaroba, Ice Storm in Kentucky, 2009. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons