Saturday Poetry Corner: November

 

So you also must be patient. Establish your hearts, strengthen and confirm
 them in the final certainty, for the coming of the Lord is very near."
(James 5:8)

Image courtesy/Pinterest

Old November, sere and brown,

Clothes the country, haunts the town,

Sheds its cloak of withered leaves

Brings its sighing, soughing breeze.

Prophet of the dying year,

Builder of its funeral bier,

Bring your message here to men;

Sound it forth that they may ken

What of Life and what of Death

Linger on your frosty breath.

Let men known to you are given

Days of thanks to God in heaven;

Thanks for things we deem best,

Thanks, O God, for all the rest

That have taught us-(trouble, strife,

Bring through Death a larger life)-

Death of our base self and fear-

(Even as the dying year,

Though through cold and frost, shall bring

Forth a new and glorious spring)-

Shall shed over us the sway

Of a new and brighter day,

With Hope, Faith, and Love alway.

Image courtesy/Louisville Free Public Library

"November"
Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.
(1861-1949)
American poet, writer, playwright, and educator.
   A man of mixed White, Black, and Cherokee Indian heritage, Cotter
  became a leading figure in writing plays and poems, which often
 reflected on the racial segregation and associated social injustice
prevalent in America during his lifetime.
His son and namesake Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr.
 was also a distinguished poet and playwright.