Category Archives: Poetry

“The ultimate dark wherein the race shall die.”

Posted on 4 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Via the Laudator:
Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953), January:
It freezes—all across a soundless sky
The birds go home. The governing dark’s begun:
The steadfast dark that waits not for a sun;
The ultimate dark wherein the race shall die.
Death, with his evil finger to his … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , | 10 Comments

“The ground was one circle of solid red.”

Posted on 3 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It is past the season, but this is fine indeed, and it matches something of my mood and my To Do List.
Via the Laudator:
Robert Frost, Unharvested:
A scent of ripeness from over a wall.
And come to leave the routine road
And look … Continue reading →

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PODCAzT 113: More winter poems

Posted on 13 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Well… I went and did it again… and then yet again.  I made a yet another PODCAzT of poems having to do with winter.   I was inspired by the blizzard we just had, and also by requests via e-mail. And … Continue reading →

10-12-12 More winter poems [ 40:12 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1519)
Posted in PODCAzT, Poetry | 9 Comments

PODCAzT 112: Winter poems – corrected

Posted on 10 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Well… I went and did it again.  I made a PODCAzT.
And then I screwed up and posted the wrong audio file.   I have now corrected that.  Sorry.
I’m not going to say what’s in it other than that there are some … Continue reading →

10-12-08 Winter Poems [ 4:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1738)
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“And the old deserted Year / Seems dying with the day”

Posted on 2 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

With a tip of the biretta to the Laudator.
Thomas Caulfield Irwin (1823-1892), December:
It is bleak December noon,
Winter-wild and rainy grey:
By the old road thinly strewn
Drifts of dead leaves skirt the way:
Oh! the long canals and drear,
And the floods o’erflow the … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Martinmass

Posted on 11 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

"Martinmass" by John Clare written on 11 Nov 1841.
    ‘Tis Martinmass from rig to rig     Ploughed fields and meadow lands are blea     In hedge and field each restless twig     Is dancing on the naked tree     … Continue reading →

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Too many ornaments on your Rosary…Poem

Posted on 28 October 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There are may ways to recite the Most Holy Rosary.  The basic paradigm changes from country to country.  In Italy, for example, the recitation of the Rosary usually includes the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.  In the USA, people often … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged | 22 Comments

Ode to Autumn

Posted on 22 October 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Ode to Autumn
by John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,    Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;Conspiring with him how to load and bless    With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,    And fill … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | 12 Comments

Gathering Leaves

Posted on 21 October 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Biretta tip to the Laudator
Robert Frost, Gathering Leaves:
    Spades take up leaves    No better than spoons,    And bags full of leaves    Are light as balloons.
    I make a great noise    Of rustling all day    Like rabbit and deer    Running away.
    … Continue reading →

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