Spring by Kathryn White

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Canadian Winters and Creative Artists...


Snow lyrics
Lyrics by Canadian Poet Archibald Lampman



White are the far-off plains, and white

The fading forests grow;

the wind dies out along the height,

And denser still the snow,

A gathering weight on roof and tree,

Falls down scarce audibly.



The road before me smooths and fills

Apace, and all about

The fences dwindle, and the hills

Are blotted slowly out;

The naked trees loom spectrally

Into the dim white sky.



The meadows and far-sheeted streams

Lie still without a sound;

Like some soft minister of dreams

The snow-fall hoods me round;

In wood and water, earth and air,

A silence everywhere.




Save when at lonely intervals

Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,

With rustling runners and sharp bells,

Swings by me and is ghone;

Or from the empty waste I hear

A sound remote and clear;



The barking of a dog, or call

To cattle, sharply pealed,

Borne echoing from some wayside stall

Or barnyard far afield;



then all is silent and the snow falls

Settling soft and slow

The evening deepens and the grey

Folds closer earth and sky

The world seems shrouded, far away.



Its noises sleep, and I as secret as

Yon buried stream plod dumbly on and dream.



Music by Canadian Singer Loreena McKennitt, who shares this:
"I grew up in rural Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of a nurse and a livestock dealer and enjoyed a fairly free and easy rural childhood. I aspired to be a veterinarian as a child but, in the way that “the best laid plans get sent sideways”, I found that music chose me rather than me, it. Interestingly, even after many years of performing, I don’t consider myself to have the strong extroverted personality best suited for a career in music, but rather one which is more comfortable on a farm, in an informal gathering of friends..."

Enjoy: