Happy Holidays

Happy winter solstice holidays to all my friends and family!

 

A Winter Eden

by Robert Frost

A winter garden in an alder swamp,

Where conies now come out to sun and romp,

As near a paradise as it can be

And not melt snow or start a dormant tree.

It lifts existence on a plane of snow

One level higher than the earth below,

One level nearer heaven overhead,

And last year’s berries shinning scarlet red.

It lifts a gaunt luxuriant beast

Where he can stretch and hold his highest feast

On some wild apple-trees tender young bark,

What well may prove the year’s high girdle mark.

So near to paradise all pairing ends:

Here loveless birds now flock with winter friends,

Content with bud-inspecting.  They presume

To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom.

A feather-hammer gives a double knock.

This Eden day is gone at two o’clock.

An hour of winter day might seem too short

To make it worth life’s while to wake and sport.

 

“A Winter Eden”