(photo by Todd Ehlers http://www.flickr.com/photos/eklektikos/3231838631/)
It's Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere--the shortest day, and this year, a very cold one. It's 2 degrees F as I type this. I join many of you in being thankful that the days will start getting longer. Gimme sunshine!
To mark the occasion, I share with you a poem based on riding the school bus to school for 6 years through the countryside.
(photo by Bjorn Watland, http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjornwatland/6014216259/in/photostream/)
A Rural Ride
Cold winter mornings,
The yellow school bus
bumps along gravel roads,
loading children,
one farmstead at a time.
The sun pinks the sky,
Sheens the snow,
Steams the lake.
In the pastures, cattle’s breath
Rises like prayers.
copyright 2013, Jane Heitman Healy, all rights reserved
(photo by ed_needs_a_bicycle http://www.flickr.com/photos/omcoc/8315302454/)
Please share your winter memories in the comments section!
This poem also lives on poet David L. Harrison's Word of the Month blog, where everyone is invited to try writing and posting a poem based on a word that changes each moth. Come and play!
(Internet Explorer 11 seems to have hijacked my Thanksgiving post. If any of you have experience in dealing with IE11 and blogger, let me know. So, I'm trying this on Chrome and hoping for a better result.)
Enjoyed your poem Jane. Scenes of my childhood came racing back of riding the school bus in extra cold days in North Central Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteYou have lived this. Thanks for your comments, and enjoy this shortest day of the year. Stay warm!
DeleteThanks for sharing your poem, Jane! Memories of the big yellow bus, gravel country roads, and ice-snow-covered lanes flood my head. I don't remember ever being cold, though! We had to shovel snow drifts away from our farmhouse doors to be able to go outside to do our chores. When finished, we ice skated over the acres and acres of harvested fields. Dad and Mom would build a bonfire and bring marshmallows and hot chocolate out and skate with us too. I grew up in the winter wonderland of flat NW Ohio.
ReplyDeleteWinter seemed a lot easier when we were kids! Thanks for sharing that memory, Jane.
DeleteAbsolutely lovely, Jane!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, bluerabbit!
DeleteHappy Winter Solstice!
ReplyDeleteRegards, www.lonelyreload.com (A Growing Teenager Diary)
Mr. Lonely, thanks for stopping by. Your Winter Solstice post from an entirely different part of the world is very interesting.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, I just nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Check it out here.http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com/vba-rules/
ReplyDeleteThank you, Juliana Lee! Find more about & by Juliana here: http://julianaleewriter.com/
ReplyDelete