Sunday, May 9, 2010

A Soft Day

A soft day, thank God!
A wind from the south
With a honey'd mouth;
A scent of drenching leaves,
Briar and beech and lime,
White elderflower and thyme,
And the soaking grass smells sweet,
Crushed by my two bare feet,
While the rain drips,
Drips, drips, drips from the eaves.

A soft day, thank God!
The hills wear a shroud
Of silver cloud;
The web the spider weaves
Is a glittering net;
The woodland path is wet,
And the soaking earth smells sweet
Under my two bare feet,
And the rain drips,
Drips, drips, drips from the leaves.

~ Winifred M. Letts (1882-1972), English poet

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this poem. I love it, I know it by heart. I wish to set it to music. I'm aware Charles Stanford has already done this and haven't heard his version. I wonder whether or not it is still in copyright??

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  2. Thanks for this. I learned it in primary school. But the dates are wrong. Winifred Letts died in 1972 and is buried in Rathcoole, County Dublin.

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  3. You are right, Anonymous. She died in 1972.

    Thank you for your correction.

    ReplyDelete

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