Hopefully the photograph and the poem catch the atmosphere of the freezing cold and also something of both the ancient world and the idea of renewal. The chestnut walk at Croft Castle in Herefordshire is an amazing collection of ancient trees and is well worth a visit.
The winter months can be hard. Not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. Those long dark nights can cast shadows over our spirits and, with political turbulence, ongoing wars and man’s inhumanity to man and the world in general, it can be difficult to find hope at times. But there must always be hope after all –
‘There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in’ (‘Anthem’ by Leonard Cohen)
‘All things must pass’ is a poem which employs symbols of winter to contrast with the hope of new life and spring. In the Spanish town of Guernica, the aerial bombing at the start of world war two destroyed great swathes of the town. Today, the museum there uses the image of a woman breastfeeding a new born baby to signify tenderness, humanity and the joy of new life and new beginnings. Hope must defeat the fist of the fascist.
All things must pass
Winter can be a savage beast.
It grips the land with a Fascist’s fist.
Its teeth of glass,
Rip the flesh
From the bones
Of spectral trees,
Half buried beneath
A pall of white.
Below an ink black, celestial sea,
Painted with halos of stars,
A thousand miniature arrowheads lie.
Footsteps, imprisoned
Within a frozen desert
Of ice and snow.
Yet, the iron will crack
To let in the light, and
The hand will unfurl
Like a fern in spring.
Tides will turn,
Buds will break.
And a newborn will take
Its virgin breath.
All things must pass.
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