Wednesday, January 30, 2019

The Polar Vortex



I have been either sick or busy with out of town company, and so I haven't written here for ten days.

Getting better now, and trying to get in my best physical health for upcoming surgery on February 13.

No Valentine's candy for me this year.

In the meantime, a large part of the United States is suffering from a bad winter blast of the polar vortex;  below zero temperatures at record levels, and killing snow and wind.  Here in Maryland it's cold but nothing like Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, and other mid-country areas.

Here are some appropriate lines from John Keats:


"O thou whose face hath felt the Winter's wind,
       Whose eye has seen the snow-clouds hung in mist
       And the black elm tops 'mong the freezing stars
        To thee the spring will be harvest-time.
O thou, whose only book has been the light
       Of supreme darkness which thou feddest on
       Night after night when PhÅ“bus was away,
       To thee the Spring shall be a triple morn.
O fret not after knowledge - I have none,
       And yet my song comes native with the warmth.
O fret not after knowledge - I have none,
       And yet the Evening listens. He who saddens
At thought of idleness cannot be idle,
And he's awake who thinks himself asleep."

-  John Keats, O Thou Whose Face Hath Felt the Winter's Wind  

 


 

 
Hagerstown Maryland  City Park   photo by Piotr Zielinski
 
 
 

 

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