Fits and starts
Sunday Missive
Good Sunday to you, wherever you may be on the planet today.
Like the feeling of a puzzle piece sliding perfectly into place, I always know when I have exactly the right material. It can be a process of hours, days, or sometimes weeks. Today I struggled with a half-dozen ideas in fits and starts—none of which felt quite right; but it always comes together. I hope this combination will resonate with you.
Be well,
~ Kate
Fluctuations
by Anne Brontë
What though the sun had left my sky;
To save me from despair
The blessed moon arose on high,
And shone serenely there.
I watched her, with a tearful gaze,
Rise slowly o'er the hill,
While through the dim horizon's haze
Her light gleamed faint and chill.
I thought such wan and lifeless beams
Could ne'er my heart repay,
For the bright sun's most transient gleams
That cheered me through the day:
But as above that mist's control
She rose, and brighter shone,
I felt her light upon my soul;
But now, that light is gone!
Thick vapours snatched her from my sight,
And I was darkling left,
All in the cold and gloomy night,
Of light and hope bereft:
Until, methought, a little star
Shone forth with trembling ray,
To cheer me with its light afar,
But that, too, passed away.
Anon, an earthly meteor blazed
The gloomy darkness through;
I smiled, yet trembled while I gazed,
But that soon vanished too!
And darker, drearier fell the night
Upon my spirit then;
But what is that faint struggling light?
Is it the Moon again?
Kind Heaven! increase that silvery gleam,
And bid these clouds depart,
And let her soft celestial beam
Restore my fainting heart!
Anne Brontë was born on January 17, 1820, in Thornton, England. The youngest of six children, she grew up in nearby Haworth, where her father, Patrick Brontë, was the curate of the local church. Anne’s mother passed away in 1821, and her two oldest sisters died of tuberculosis in 1824.
Anne was educated at Haworth with her brother Branwell and her sisters Charlotte and Emily. There, she wrote poetry and prose set in the imaginary kingdom of Gondal. She pursued more formal studies at Roe Head School for two years, and she served as a governess for two families between 1839 and 1845.
In 1846, Charlotte arranged for the publication of the three sisters’ poems under the title The Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (Aylott and Jones, 1846). Anne went on to publish two novels under the pseudonym Acton Bell: Agnes Grey (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1848).
Anne died of tuberculosis on May 28, 1849, shortly after the deaths of both Branwell and Emily Brontë.
Biographical notes from Poets.org
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A moving meditation on grief and grieving.
Moving and heartfelt, as this Sunday continues to be!