"After the Winter," Claude McKay

Thank you to Claude McKay (1889-1948) for the following and its title, both of which remind me that one day we'll be done with this interminable winter season. There will be an "after." Bring on the droning bees and the ferns! (See also  Yeats's "Lake Isle of Innisfree" for more bees.) I found the McKay at poets.org, the site of the Academy of American Poets, and it is in the public domain. The Poetry Friday roundup today is at author Laura Purdie Salas's blog. Edited to add: don't miss Tanita Davis's look at McKay's "If We Must Die" over at her place, Fiction, Instead of Lies.

*****

After the Winter

by Claude McKay 

Some day, when trees have shed their leaves
    And against the morning’s white
The shivering birds beneath the eaves
    Have sheltered for the night,
We’ll turn our faces southward, love,
    Toward the summer isle
Where bamboos spire to shafted grove
    And wide-mouthed orchids smile.

And we will seek the quiet hill
    Where towers the cotton tree,
And leaps the laughing crystal rill,
    And works the droning bee.
And we will build a cottage there
    Beside an open glade,
With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near,
    And ferns that never fade.

 

Photo by Susan Thomsen

Comments

[Marcie Flinchum Atkins]

Yes to the droning bees. I can't wait! In a local garden there is a Japanese apricot and I can often find bees there when it blooms in January or February. I checked when I was there two weeks ago--the buds were there, but no blooms yet. I'll bet it will be there this weekend...

[Susan T.]

Oh, nice! I so look forward to their return.

[Laura Purdie Salas]

I love winter, but this does make me anticipate the joys of summer too. And it for sure resonates with the Innisfree poem. Thank you, Susan!

[Linda Baie]

Oh, that ending, "With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near," what I wish right now! You'll see when you read what I shared, Susan! Thanks for this lovely dream!

[Susan T.]

Laura, I usually don't mind the winter, but this year has been a challenge. I'm working on it, though! Linda, what a fun one you shared! And you'll see the synchronicity moment in my comment on your blog.

[Karen Edmisten]

I love Claude McKay so much. Thanks for adding to the goodness/McKay-ness of my weekend, along with Tanita. ❤️ He's so, so good.

This winter hasn't been quite as hard for me as the past few winters were, for various reasons, but I'm not a huge fan of the season. I do like staying in, reading, sipping tea, and things being canceled. :) But I battle some SAD too, so I'm always so glad when spring arrives, with its muddy, joyous hints of hope.

[Carol Varsalona]

Susan, I am not sure what is happening but my comments are not attaching to your site. 3rd try: "And ferns that never fade" is a beautiful ending-so idyllic.

[tanita]

Oh, Susan, I posted so late yesterday I didn't get to all of the poems yet but my mind is ABSOLUTELY BLOWN that we both chose to discuss the poetry of a relatively obscure Harlem Renaissance poet. 🤯

And what a poem! What a gentle, dreamy departure from the one poem he is so known for. I love his sense of wistfulness. It's also so interesting to me that in contrast to a lot of the Harlem Renaissance voices, his poems use the language of earlier times - this could have been written fifty years earlier in Britain, except most people would not have been familiar with bamboo and orchids. It fascinates me how every poet is both a product of their time, and their environment and education. I can only imagine what readers one hundred plus years from now might say about us...

[Susan T.]

Karen, another McKay fan, yay! You might also be interested in the Poem Talk podcast discussion of McKay's "If We Must Die." I haven't yet listened but want to! https://www.poetryfoundation.org/audio/76739/constrained-to-honor-a-discussion-of-claude-mckays-if-we-must-die

Carol, I am so sorry you're having issues leaving comments. This blog is so old that it likely has some busted stairs and creaky doors. I'll check it out.

Tanita, WILD, right? This one is dreamy, as you say! After several re-reads, I wonder if that "we" makes it out of winter or just dreams about doing so. I'd sure like to think the former. My Modern Poetry professor would ask what the form (the sonnet, the formal language) is telling us, and I think you're right on the money with that!

[Jane]

It feels like this winter has been hard in so many ways, and hearts all over the world are yearning for the warmth and hope of spring.

[Denise Krebs]

Susan, that poem is so lovely and peaceful. Thank you for sharing it and adding Tanita's post as another great poem with such a different feel.

[Susan T.]

Jane, that's it, the yearning. January and February have been cold...and crazy.

Denise, it IS such a different poem that the one Tanita has. I also think that this one may be a direct response to the Yeats, but haven't been able to find anything on that. Yet!

[Mary Lee]

It was a Claude McKay kind of Poetry Friday!

I am so ready for some kind of "after!"