Through thaws of March #poetry #dVerse

Cold blows the wind from east to west
and far it seems, so very far
the home where we may take our rest
like some receding star

I have on this thin dress, bare rags,
the babe bound to my back
I pray is warm, and safe and snug
and feels the heat I lack

My eldest, bent against the wind,
her flimsy hat held tight
against the cold, she walks behind
headlong into the fight

With untamed nature, who seeks not
to taunt with wind and cold
but rather, sings above, aloft
that she may be so bold

And swift as night, the clouds do part,
reveal a ray of sun:
through thaws of March, the heat we seek
has still a way to come.

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Written for dVerse

Tonight, Merril hosts Poetics, and has given us a choice of four paintings to use as the basis of an ekphrastic poem, all inspired by the month of March. I chose ‘Cauld Blaws the Wind Frae East to West‘ by Joseph Farquharson (1888) for two reasons: firstly, the landscape, though obviously (by the title) in Scotland, reminded me very much of my beloved Lake District, and secondly, the title itself sounds like the opening line of a ballad, so this is what I wrote. I anglicised the title, as I didn’t fancy the added challenge of writing the entire poem in Scottish dialect…