Winter Sleep

It's not the case, though some might wish it so
Who from a window watch the blizzard blow
 White riot through their branches vague and stark,
That they keep snug beneath their pelted bark.
They take affliction in until it jells
To crystal ice between their frozen cells,
 And each of them is inwardly a vault
Of jewels rigorous and free of fault,
 Unglimpsed until in May it gently bears
A sudden crop of green-pronged solitaires.

-Richard Wilbur, Orchard Trees, January 
 

 January, (winter sleep) oil on canvas, 40x48in, diptych

copyright Jan Yates 2014, available

milkweed, sumac, encaustic

 

another work inspired by the words of  Richard Wilbur:

'White seeds are floating Out of my burst pod. What power had I Before I learned to yield? Shatter me, great wind: I shall possess the field.'

January, encaustic on panel, 10x12in

copyright Jan Yates, 2014 

Speaking of field, a land mark-from Sumac:

 

copyright Jan Yates, 2014

A Milkweed

Anonymous as cherubs
Over the crib of God,
White seeds are floating
Out of my burst pod.
What power had I
Before I learned to yield?
Shatter me, great wind:
I shall possess the field.

Richard Wilbur

Two Voices in a Meadow

 

 sway, mixed media on found panel, 7x40in, 2013

copyright Jan Yates