Die Katzen

I've been missing my cats Charlotte and Emily so much here lately, actually since I was home last. I wish I could hold them and cuddle with them. Here are two poems written by Charlotte and Emily Bronte, their namesakes. :-)

"The Night is Darkening Around Me"

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow ;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow ;
The storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below ;
But nothing drear can move me :
I will not, cannot go.
 -Emily Bronte

"Evening Solace"

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed;­
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,
Whose charms were broken if revealed.
And days may pass in gay confusion,
And nights in rosy riot fly,
While, lost in Fame's or Wealth's illusion,
The memory of the Past may die.

But, there are hours of lonely musing,
Such as in evening silence come,
When, soft as birds their pinions closing,
The heart's best feelings gather home.
Then in our souls there seems to languish
A tender grief that is not woe;
And thoughts that once wrung groans of anguish,
Now cause but some mild tears to flow.

And feelings, once as strong as passions,
Float softly back­a faded dream;
Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations,
The tale of others' sufferings seem.
Oh ! when the heart is freshly bleeding,
How longs it for that time to be,
When, through the mist of years receding,
Its woes but live in reverie !

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,
On evening shade and loneliness;
And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,
Feel no untold and strange distress­
Only a deeper impulse given
By lonely hour and darkened room,
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven,
Seeking a life and world to come 

-Charlotte Bronte

Frühling

The Vernal Equinox (also known as the first day of Spring) is one month away. Here is a lovely poem by Robert Frost in anticipation of the new season.

OH, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
To which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends he will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill. 

"A Prayer In Spring", -Robert Frost

Einhundert Neununddreißig

A poem based on Psalm 139

From the first moment when in the hidden place that only God could see, He brought life to you and said "Yes" to who you were and all that you could be by His grace.

He has been a Father to you even before your earthly father saw the reflection of his image upon your face. He put His arms around you even before you knew your mother's touch.

He has cared for you as no one ever could. He has known you with prefect knowledge and kept you with perfect understanding. He has guided you with perfect wisdom; He has loved you and drawn you to Himself with cords of everlasting love.

-Roy Lessin