A poem for late winter
After the first early promises of spring, we find ourselves here in New England suddenly looking again on snowy fields and icy trees. Though we are far enough beyond the solstice that the light cannot be mistaken for winter light, the snow puts me in mind of one of Dickinson’s great winter poems. It needs no gloss.
There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.
None may teach it anything,
‘Tis the seal, despair,—
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.
When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘tis like the distance
On the look of death.