It’s Furious Balancing

I am (finally) on my days of vacation surrounding Christmas.

This is the best time of year for me: celebrating Yule and the winter solstice.  I am far away from the misery of summer.  This is the time when I get to unplug from the stress and deadlines and demands at work and thoroughly enjoy the quiet, the warmth, of the heart of winter.  Call it the Peace of the Season; call it what you will.

Oh Winter! ruler of th’ inverted year…

I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem’st,

And dreaded as thou art!  Thou hold’st the sun

A pris’ner in the yet undawning East,

Short’ning his journey between morn and noon,

And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,

Down to the rosy West; but kindly still

Compensating his loss with added hours

Of social converse and instructive ease,

And gathering at short notice, in one group,

The family dispers’d, and fixing thought,

Not less dispers’d by day-light and its cares.

I crown thee King of intimate delights,

Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,

And all the comforts that the lowly roof

Of undisturb’d retirement, and the hours

Of long uninterrupted evening, know.

The Task, Book IV: The Winter Evening — William Cowper

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 12:28 am and is filed under Quotes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.