"Cows are my passion. What I have ever sighed for has been to retreat to a farm and live entirely surrounded by cows–and china." Charles Dickens

January 8, 2011

Spinning My Cocoon

'Wintertime on the Farm' (1850) by George Henry Durrie.

I could not recollect this Robert Frost poem and read it, again, many moons later (as I have his entire collected words in one volume), with new meaning last night. This is exactly why I love winter so and have come to embrace it as a verb and a noun that just seems to become me for a third of each year (but, like Persephone, I will emerge again, gladly and willingly, in the spring).
The Cocoon
As far as I can see this autumn haze
That spreading in the evening air both way,
Makes the new moon look anything but new,
And pours the elm-tree meadow full of blue,
Is all the smoke from one poor house alone
With but one chimney it can call its own;
So close it will not light an early light,
Keeping its life so close and out of sign
No one for hours has set a foot outdoors
So much as to take care of evening chores.
The inmates may be lonely women-folk.
I want to tell them that with all this smoke
They prudently are spinning their cocoon
And anchoring it to an earth and moon
From which no winter gale can hope to blow it,––
Spinning their own cocoon did they but know it.
––Robert Frost

My husband and boys are out feeding cattle, doing farm chores. And I, wintering in on a ridge in Kentucky, spinning my cocoon.

You come back when you're ready!

Catherine

3 comments:

  1. Love the Robert Frost!

    Joberta

    ReplyDelete
  2. Me, too. As with Emily Dickinson, every time I pull his collected works down from the shelf, I find a new discovery.

    He was a depressive, brooding soul and I can relate to that, at times, myself.

    Thanks for reading! ~ C

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  3. Love it! As much as I welcome Spring I have a sadness about leaving winter and I feel it every year.

    Thank you for posting this poem and hope you'll post more about my favorite season. I can wait till Fall, LOL.

    Loretta Januska

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to the farm! I hope you feel free to comment and share here. I will respond as often as I can.