Thursday, January 4, 2018

from "anyone lived in a pretty how town"


Gustav Jahn. Hiver, c.1902

















when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her

-e.e. cummings

9 comments:

chickelit said...

Hiver is good time to hibernate.

deborah said...

S-hiver...bitterly cold here with wind chill of -7.

Amartel said...

So pretty!
I would totally look out the window at that from the comfort of my down sleeping bag in front of a roaring fire in a centrally heated indoor room.

ricpic said...

Thoughts While Looking out the Window At The White

Our distant ancestors made it through winter....well, duh.
Was it enough to find a cave and stay deep within it? Covered with skins?
Or had they already invented fire before they trekked north?

The sparrow makes it through winter with feathers alone.
That would be a....well, duh....except it's so hard to believe.



deborah said...

It is hard to believe...and their bones are hollow. I wonder if that helps them stay warm?

The Dude said...

All bones are hollow, it's just a matter of degree. Feathers are what keep birds warm.

deborah said...

Thanks, Sixty. I was just wondering if the hollow bones, adding to the birds' lightness, might leave less to heat up lol...hmmm.

MamaM said...

After the laughter and hummming subsides, tip tapping "How do birds stay warm in the winter?" opens a library of answers. Even with those facts at hand, however, the wonder that they manage to do so, night after bitter night, remains.

In keeping with the hiver and shiver motif, there's this from the Smithsonian Insider that brings you "everything under the sun":

Some birds also flock in a ball at night to stave off winter’s chill.

“Many small birds, like black-capped chickadees, Eastern bluebirds, and house wrens, will gather in large groups at night and crowd together in a small, tight space to share body heat,” Marra says. “They can roost closely together in dense shrubbery or trees. And even empty birdhouses and tree cavities are popular places to gather together to conserve heat.”

So….wear a good coat, preferably of down; always make sure to keep your extremities warm; and stay social in the darker winter months―all advice we’ve probably heard at one time or another, but now we know the source.

MamaM said...

Beyond the birds, the poem in its entirety invites more hmmmm, while Jahn's picture leaves me cold. I appreciate both, being previously unfamiliar with either.

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more