Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, week 13

December has come again, and Nature has gone to rest

With her children tucked snug and warm on her breast.

She has covered them with the leaves and the snow

They must rest a while.  Next spring they will awaken and grow.

The North winds blow.  in the air there is a chill

That momentarily stilled the water in each tiny rill.

With snow she covered the green fields of wheat.

She knows, of the crop, many nations must eat.

The leaves of the trees lie seared and browned.

Their life-giving sap has been hidden deep in the ground.

The tree branches are bare, the wind goes through them.

The crops are all in, even the corn is in the shock

She's taught men to provide shelter for their stock.

She's fitted the others with a much warmer pelt

So they'll be war, the wind won't be felt.

So we can go inside and enjoy the fire's haven

Some others she's fitted to sleep the winter through in a cave.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.