MessagesJanuary 29, 2024

Messages

Robert Frost shared this poem which has become one of my favorites:

Dust of Snow
The way a crow shook down on me
The dust of snow from a hemlock tree
Has given my heart a change of mood
And saved some part of a day I had rued.

As an English teacher, I appreciated his efficiency of words…. He said all of

this in a sentence that rhymed twice! I was also struck by how quickly he

established a context, a setting in which one might find oneself shivering.

Frost alludes to the mood that can easily overcome us on very cold and

cloudy days as he identifies a crow (black bird) that shook down on me

the dust of snow (remember that you are dust…. and snow is….. ) from a

hemlock tree ( a tree often found in cemeteries). And yet, this potentially

negative experience at a time when he was feeling regret -- a day I had

rued— actually saves part of his day by giving his heart a change of

mood. Robert Frost shares with us a momentary experience that elicits a

change of heart!

William Wordsworth employs many more words in his poem “Daffodils” when he relates:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils.”

What he then describes reminds me of a spring visit to Daffodil Hill at Lakeside Cemetery:

Beside the lake,
beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

And then Wordsworth reflects:

I gazed – and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Why am I sharing these poems? Because I was searching

unsuccessfully for an insight, a piece of wisdom to share with you and this

morning, I found this quote on my computer from a friend:

“Night’s candles are burnt out,
and jocund day stands on the misty mountain tops!”

My friend had titled it: Gorgeous Sunrise. When I inquired about its source,

I was told that it was from Romeo and Juliet, Act V. All I could think was

what a wonderful way to start one’s day: allowing a beautiful sunrise to

bring delight to an otherwise misty world. The experience gave me pause.

How many “dusts of snow”, displays of “dancing daffodils”, and “gorgeous

sunrises” have I been missing? Am I opening myself to messages of

joy, delight, refreshment and change of heart that my Creator God is forever

sending my way?

Sister Anne Marie Diederich