(President's Wednesday Message, a day late. Our apologies.)
During this week of Spring Break that falls in the middle of National Poetry Month, I thought I would share a lovely poem from the early 1900s that uses the metaphor of sewing to capture the emergent beauty of the season. As a quilter who also loves poetry—and spring—I could not resist it. Hazel Hall was influenced by writers including Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. As you might guess from this poem, she was a professional seamstress whose work sewing everything from christening gowns to ball gowns subsidized her life as a writer. I hope this week has you looking forward to “all the springs of futurity” and the glorious colors they will bring.
Two Sewing
Hazel Hall
The Wind is sewing with needles of rain.
With shining needles of rain
It stitches into the thin
Cloth of earth. In,
In, in, in.
Oh, the wind has often sewed with me.
One, two, three.
Spring must have fine things
To wear like other springs.
Of silken green the grass must be
Embroidered. One and two and three.
Then every crocus must be made
So subtly as to seem afraid
Of lifting colour from the ground;
And after crocuses the round
Heads of tulips, and all the fair
Intricate garb that Spring will wear.
The wind must sew with needles of rain,
With shining needles of rain,
Stitching into the thin
Cloth of earth, in,
In, in, in,
For all the springs of futurity.
One, two, three.
Do you have a favorite spring poem? Please share it in the comment section on the
blog.