FROST...

AN OLD MAN'S WINTER NIGHT (Robert Frost 1874-1963) excerpts

All out of doors looked darkly in at him through the thin frost, 

 almost in separate stars, that gathers on the pane in empty rooms.

What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze 

was the lamp tilted near them in his hand.

And scared the outer night, which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar of trees and crack of branches...

common things.........

Where now he sat, concerned with what he knew what,

A quiet light, and then not even that.

He consigned to the moon, such as she was,

So late-arising, to the broken moon

As better than the sun in any case

For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,

His icicles along the wall to keep;

And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt

Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted, and eased his heavy breathing,

but still slept.

One aged man--one man---can't keep a house, a farm, a countryside,

it's thus he does it of a winter night.

Photographs 2026 "An Old Man's Winter Night" first published in 1916 

(Mountain Interval collection) by Robert Frost is in the public domain
 

JOURNEY....

"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other lives, other souls.."

-Anais Nin

She stood on the edge  of forever. She looked for his hand,  as  snow tumbled down. It was a long step. Winter sang out their destiny. A very wonderful dance into the wild.

Time tumbled by as the thrush sang its plaintive song, low and sweet.

She stood on the steps of what was, and what was to be.  Precious moments fluttering  like angel wings. She reached, again, for his  hand.

Winter breathed fire and ice over them. 

Mountains trembled with  stars. She looked back. To see where her world had been, before Winter’s snow veiled her eyes.

A new journey. Of what had never been, but was meant to be.

The wind  played  sweet melodies  above  dark branches in the sky.

Winter saw her in this world. Saw her light.  And the world saw her.

She stood on the threshold. The old one drifting far.

She reached for his hand, and grasped it at last. 

Winter breathed :  “Take a step. We’ll be here. Take a step..”

She took a step, with his hand held fast in hers.

She did not look back this time. 

Snow danced. The light  took them

Into  the ends of the world; into the journey,

And Winter whispered: “I will miss you....”

Photographs 2024  "For A and D"  

 

AT Minus 20 Celsius

"Winter is a season that sparkles with magic and transforms our ordinary world into a glittering kingdom"- Abi Elphinstone

"I like these cold, grey winter days.." - Bill Watterson

"Christmas isn't just a day..." -Valentine Davies

"Christmas. It brings people together while time stands still...."

                                                                                                    -Rachel Cohn

"Snow always makes me think of ice cream..." -Jane Wilson-Howith

"This is the message of Christmas....we are never alone...." -Taylor Caldwell

"Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night..." -Novala Takemoto

"Every snowflake I caught was a miracle unlike any other...."

                                             -Alice Hoffman

"Christmas is a tonic for our souls...." - B.C. Forbes

"Snow is covering us. Close your eyes and sleep. Close your eyes and dream. This is one story. There will be another...." -Jeanette Winterson

                                "Winter is not just a season, it is a celebration.." -Anamika Mishra

"The earth has grown old , with its burden of care, but at Christmas it is young...." -Phillips Brooks

"Sometimes I would like to be a child again...." - Deirdre Sullivan

"All that is gold does not glitter.  Not all those who wander are lost. The old that is strong does not wither. Deep roots are not reached by the frost...." -J.R.R. Tolkien

Photographs 2021 Christmas Week