I found this poem one year when looking for Christmas poems about warm places. You'd think there would be a lot more of them, and maybe they are, just in languages I can't read. Do any southern hemisphere Poetry Friday people have any other poems in this vein to share? My students just can't relate to cold weather imagery the way they can to beach-going at this time of year.
I don't mean to gloat (OK, maybe I do, a little), but the weather is so lovely here right now. The perfect time to live in the Caribbean - hurricane season is over, and it's in the eighties every day. Come see us! (My daughter will be coming home soon from her college in the frozen north, and I just can't wait.)
Carol for a New Zealand Child
Christmas in the picture book
Gold and white with snow,
Winter in the desert
Where the three Kings go.
Ice on the camel-rein,
Rime on the crown,
Snow round the stable doors
Of Bethlehem town.
I carol Baby Jesus
On a nor-west day,
A summer wind is blowing
Across the beach and bay.
Sea gulls whir where
Children run to swim
Laughter in the breakers
Their Christmas hymn.
Dorothy Neal White
21 comments:
I LOVE this "southern" Christmas idea. Since we moved to Florida (from Boston), I simply can't get into the holiday spirit no matter what I do. This poem helped a lot. I'd like to read more poems in this vein!
Lovely! I hadn't read this one though, like you, I celebrate Christmas in the warm. I've shared a couple of summer Christmas poems the last few weeks of poetry Friday, but this week went somewhere different. Might see if I can come up with one more for next week.
If I find another, I will share, Ruth. This is lovely, a lilt in the step is found everywhere at Christmas, but I love "laughter in the breakers". Merry Christmas! Enjoy having that daughter home from chilly Chicago!
Oh, what a lovely Christmas hymn this is! Thank you for the reminder that not everyone's Christmas is white... enjoy your 80 degree days... and your daughter! You must have been very good this year for Santa to bring you that. xo
I'm sitting here in two shirts and a sweater. How I envy you your warmth! I'll bet you have flowers, too! Celebrate it all!
I don't mention Christmas, but I do have a last love note to autumn in my poem this week. I like your poem. You'll have to get your kids working on Southern Hemisphere holiday poems.
I love this Christmas hymn! Surely there are more, but maybe you should write a few yourself!
I can identify with warm Christmases and hope you find more poems in this vein. Thanks for sharing this one. :)
Maybe some Florida-accented Christmas photos would be the ticket, Ruth. Bookseedstudio (my blog) is offering them today.
Christmas is a giving, rejoicing season in any temperature. And what was the weather like for Mary & Joseph.....
What a gorgeous poem, Ruth! The idea of celebrating Christmas in a warm climate is foreign to my northern attitude, but this poem really helps me imagine another perspective. Our granddaughter just returned from college. It's a happy family time. Enjoy your daughter's time with you!
I always dreamed of snow for Christmas when I was a child in NC, but we were more likely to have temps in the 60s or 70s. Now that we've moved north, I still love the snow. I do like this poem that celebrates the warmth as well. Maybe all those winter scenes are just trying to help people get through a long winter to come!
Living in New England, the only Christmas I "know" is the textbook snowglobe version. I love dreaming about another type of experience. Here's a little Calypso Christmas music to carry us all away! https://youtu.be/-xBZqlHX6s8. Merry Christmas! -- Christie
"Laughter in the breakers" is the line that popped out at me as well. There's a lovely gentle rhythm to this poem--perhaps like a warm, tropical breeze. Enjoy your Christmas and most especially time with your daughter!
Perfect, Ruth! I so enjoy reading poems about Christmas written from a different setting. (Might there be collections of 'warm' Christmas poems from Australia / New Zealand writers?) Following your updates on FB has helped me appreciate your dilemma. But you still have the lovely poinsettia, even in its natural state (not in a pot, crowded with others on a store dolly).
It's too bad the Northern Hemisphere has created a culture of Christmas around weather that everyone doesn't experience. Keep looking for and posting poems that celebrate the alternatives!
I'm ready to climb into your poem, sounds lovely, thanks for sharing it Ruth!
We went to Florida once for Christmas. Because of the lights at night, I could still feel a bit of the season. Snow's stillness is still the trigger for me though.
We've always been in cold places at Christmas time, but your post and poem make me want to try a beach-y Christmas some day, Ruth.
I love cold seasons. This poem is a delight.
Thank you for the warm weather poem. My parents lived in Florida. I miss them, but also miss escaping the cold to visit them in the winter. Your poem reminded made me think of their villa and the Sand Hill Cranes.
Ruth, I think you are the PERFECT poet to write a collection of southern hemisphere Christmas poems. I'll bet you could pull together a collection from just your school experiences. I'd love to see it.
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