Vigil and Vision

Excerpt from Vigil and Vision: New Sonnets January. This is the bitter birth-month of the year. The sun looms large against the leaden sky, Rayless and red, as 'twere a giant's eye, That through the mists of death abroad doth peer: The fettered earth is dumb for frosty cheer, Veiling its face to let the blast go by. Who said, "Spring cometh"? Out upon the lie! Spring's dead and buried: January's here. Shut to the door; heap logs upon the fire. If in your heart there harbour yet some heat, Some sense of flowers and light and Summer-sweet, In some half-fabulous dream of days foregone Remembered, feed withal hope's funeral pyre, So you may live to look upon the dawn. February. How long, o Lord, how long the Winter's woes? Is it to purge the world of sin and stain That in its winding-sheet it stands again For penance, pining in the shrouded snows? Methinks, I do remember of the rose To have heard fable in some far domain Of old fantastic dreams and fancies vain; But what in sooth it was, God only knows' Was ever aught but Winter in the land Was ever snow time past and Springtime come, To bless the brown earth with her flowerful hands? Well nigh the cuckoo's call, the wild bee's hum Have we forgot. Yet, through the chill snow-cope The kindly crocus blooms and bids us hope. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.