Poetry Friday: A Blood-Nipt, Greasy Foulness

This is a winter poem.

It uses the words ‘foul’ and ‘staring,’ and mentions blood and greasiness. For those reasons, I simply adore it.

When I quit trying to win prizes as Perky Positive Girl, UK, I note that the wind last evening was up to gusts of 50 mph and I got home exhausted, battered and soaked to my knees and the S.O. trod in some kind of hideous puddle that left his socks sopping, and the so-called “rain” was solid and stinging pellets of ice, and my winter coat is now so huge (a good thing, weight loss, but an annoying thing when you’re in the mood to be annoyed) it’s a virtual sail, and my scarf flipped up completely over my head, obscuring my view while I was creeping down icy stairs — and the wind pinned the door to the stoop and I couldn’t close it, then changed direction and ripped it out of my hands… well, last night I caught myself muttering “Tu-whit! Tu-whoo!”

Thus, I give you:

Winter
by the incomparable and beloved William Shakespeare

WHEN icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl
                                      Tu-whoo!
Tu-whit! tu-whoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all around the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian’s nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl—
Then nightly sings the staring owl
                                      Tu-whoo!
Tu-whit! tu-whoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Ways are foul! Blood is nipt! ‘Tis the last throes of a really cold winter storm, but all inside are safe and warm. If you’d like to further keel the pot of poetry, visit The Blog with the Shockingly Clever Title. Cell photo was taken last night at Glasgow Uni, those lovely arches make an amazing wind tunnel.

About the author

tanita s. davis is a writer and avid reader who prefers books to most things in the world, including people. That's ...pretty much it, she's very boring and she can't even tell jokes. She is, however, the author of nine books, including Serena Says, Partly Cloudy, Go Figure, Henri Weldon, and the Coretta Scott King honored Mare's War. Look for her new MG, The Science of Friendship in 1/2024 from Katherine Tegen Books.

Comments

  1. You would not believe it—they’re starting school here two hours late, and all it’s doing is RAINING. Of course, I did have to push a queen mattress and boxsprings to the curb in that rain because they are only fit for the trash after the Salvation Army refused them. If only I had read your “Tu-whit! Tu-whoo!” first—then I could have thought on keeling and foulness and greasy Joan while I pushed.

    P.S. Your coat is too big? How much wasting away have you done???

  2. When I read this poem I think how easy we have it. Imagine this dressed in Elizabethan garb! I know that doesn’t make you feel any better, however.

    The photo is lovely, though I feel your pain in regards to the wind tunnel effect.

    May brighter days be ahead of you.

  3. What a great post — great piece of poetry — great photo. Great Bill. I have always loved this. No one can conjure an image like Shakespeare.

    (Except, Sara, perhaps a properly goaded ape?)

    And, btw, I wish my coat were too big.

  4. How much wasting away? Sara darling: not enough.

    Yes Tricia, I always imagine this weather in Elizabethan garb… cold and foully wet, leggings full of fleas, hair full of lice, and of course, greasy Joan.

    Good times.

  5. The thing is, all that cold and wind and ice pellety awfulness sounds romantic when one is sitting inside a heated house in suburbia. Just like the moors sounds so lovely in Wuthering Heights.

    And yet, I can’t help but think that when “Dick blows his nail” it means that he completely loses it (whether that’s what Will intended it to mean or not), and I can certainly see why.

    Wishing you warmth and dryness today.
    Hugs,
    Kelly

    P.S. – the confirmation word I have to type is “fiduko”, which sounds as if it should be the next wave of word/number puzzles, I’m thinking

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.