Sunday, March 2, 2008

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

When I went out this morning, at 10am, the sky was clear and it was 60 degrees, blue, and bright. After a few hours, clouds had moved in and made everything a still gray. Then the rain began, running off the packs of leftover snow - and just a bit ago, snow began to fall in mix with the rain. Soon the twig snaps of falling rain will stop as it gives way to nothing but the silent snow, spreading over the ground.

You can really see the change in seasons here. It's not an ambiguous slide from below freezing nights until, in august, you realize there are lines of heat seeping out of the asphalt, and you're drinking two gallons of water a day and yet your pee is still the color of autumn leaves (hopefully not the red ones). Spring as pushing against winter here and it's a change you can see and feel and watch as it plays out in front of you.

I see now why the ancient Greeks had stories like Persephone and her pomegranate. Even in a world now that we can understand through science, we see ourselves - our own stories and emotions - mirrored in the world in which we humans are wrapped. And so it's no wonder we see characters all around us, and can feel happy when the sun comes out from behind a cloud, or feel tranquil at the image of a snowy night in the woods.

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kevin,

Shay here. I have been reading your blog for some time now. I hope you are doing well.

It's always incredible to see God's creation again, even when you have seen it many times before. You were talking about feeling happy when the sun comes out and I have those feelings all the time about the world around us. Just the other day we had three rainbows in the same day--absolutely gorgeous. They reminded me of the goodness of our God.

It's unfortunate that the Greeks missed the point--that the reality is God uses creation to point to Himself and his character. Like you said, we see that character all around us. I just hope I am able to see it like that, even when I've seen it many times before.

Kevun said...

My goal of this post wasn't to make any sort of religious statement at all. It seems strange to me, though, to say that the Greeks missed the point. If god is using creation to point to himself, why was he only successful in the near east, whereby everywhere else it evidently pointed to someone else? Like an artist, when seeing peoples' interpretation of his/her piece, shakes their head and says, "That's not what I meant to say at all."

Kevun said...

By the way, good to talk to you shay :). I see shaycam is still going strong.

NanAZ said...

Now you know why I miss the change of seasons. One of my favorite memories was when it was finally warm enough to go out barefoot in the spring...the ground was still cool and damp but the sun was warm enough to enjoy it.

I love the silence that the snow creates too. Like a big insulation blanket covering the world.

God is definitely evident to me in all of creation. The attention to detail is absolutely amazing!

Anonymous said...

Robert Frost... He wrote a geat deal of poetry involving trees...