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December 2023
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Message
Posted
The November challenges certainly warmed up the forum nicely!
We haven't had a poem for inspiration for a while so how about this one by Mary Elizabeth (McGrath) Blake for December? I look forward to seeing what you all make of it.
Chill the night wind moans and sighs,
On the sward the stubble dies;
Slow across the meadows rank
Float the cloud-rifts grim and dank;
On the hill-side, bare and brown,
Twilight shadows gather down,—
'Tis December.
Stark and gaunt the naked trees
Wrestle with the wrestling breeze,
While beneath, at every breath,
Dead leaves hold a dance of death;
But the pine-trees' sighing grace
Greenly decks the barren place,
In December.
Chirp of bird nor hum of bee
Breaks across the barren lea;
Only silence, cold and drear,
Nestles closely far and near,
While in cloak of russet gray,
Nature hides her bloom away
With December.
Yet we know that, sleeping sound,
Life is waiting underground;
Till beneath his April skies
God shall bid it once more rise,
Warmth and light and beauty rest
Hushed and calm, upon the breast
Of December.
So, though sometimes winter skies
Hide the summer from our eyes,
Taking from its old time place
Some dear form of love and grace,
We can wait, content to bear
Barren fields and frosted air,
Through December.
We can wait, till some sweet dawn
Finds the shadows backward drawn,
And beneath its rosy light
Maytime flushes, warm and bright,
Bring again the bloom that fled
When the earth lay cold and dead
In December.
Posted
If you want to get the best out of December as a painter, the best advice is to get up early -almost pitch-black outside, and it's not quite 5pm yet. When the sun is out, catching the few remaining leaves on the nearly-bare trees - that's what we want!
All I need to do now is struggle out of a warm bed in the morning...
Posted
Yup you have been inspired Skylar...I'm having a wee think. What sort of bird is it ! I know your Robins are quite different from ours. Robert I have acquired nagging hens who won't let me turn over. They are demanding attention at first light...not one of my best acquisitions I reckon it's thirty quid an egg.
Posted
If you want to get the best out of December as a painter, the best advice is to get up early -almost pitch-black outside, and it's not quite 5pm yet. When the sun is out, catching the few remaining leaves on the nearly-bare trees - that's what we want! All I need to do now is struggle out of a warm bed in the morning...I'm looking forward to seeing this great sounding painting Robert, well worth struggling out of bed for!
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