Seasonal Quatrains

by Ursula K. Le Guin

EARLY NOVEMBER

Fog at the break of day and rain at the noon,

Days are getting darker to the winter.

Sun in the overcast weaker than the moon,

Days are getting darker to the winter coming soon.

DECEMBER 20

That great hinge of light up there

is just about to catch the red leap

of the year and pivot it right round

into the long evenings and open doors of summer.

FEBRUARY

The morning light slipped down the snowy mountain

quick and soft, a fall of petals of pink roses.

Already now the blue-grey shadow water

from lowlands and the misty foothills slowly rises.

SPRING NIGHT RAIN

A soft, immense commotion

wholly occupies the dark,

a murmur, a consolation

to earth, root, heart.

“Seasonal Quatrains” by Ursula K. Le Guin

Used by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.