Featured Poem: Sonnet to Winter by Emily Chubbuck Judson

As the days are turning even colder, it seems like Winter will be here for a little while yet so we're going to embrace it in the only way we know how - by dedicating a poem to it. This sonnet comes from American poet Emily Chubbuck Judson - otherwise known as Fanny Forester - and invokes a rather rich picture of the season, complete with 'gems', 'palaces' and 'jewels'. Though sometimes it might not feel like it, it's good to know that Winter can be full of fortune too.

Sonnet to Winter

Thy brow is girt, thy robe with gems inwove;
And palaces of frost-work, on the eye,
Flash out, and gleam in every gorgeous dye,
The pencil, dipped in glorious things above,
Can bring to earth. Oh, thou art passing fair!
But cold and cheerless as the heart of death,
Without one warm, free pulse, one softening breath,
One soothing whisper for the ear of Care.
Fortune too has her Winter. In the Spring,
We watch the bud of promise; and the flower
Looks out upon us at the Summer hour;
And Autumn days the blessed harvest bring;
Then comes the reign of jewels rare, and gold,
When brows flash light, but hearts grow strangely cold.

Emily Chubbuck Judson