![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nolligan.co.uk\/SU\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/winter-in-England.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tonight the wind gnaws
\nWith teeth of glass,
\nThe jackdaw shivers
\nIn caged branches of iron,
\nThe stars have talons.<\/p>\n
There is hunger in the mouth
\nOf vole and badger,
\nSilver agonies of breath
\nIn the nostril of the fox,
\nIce on the rabbit\u2019s paw.<\/p>\n
Tonight has no moon,
\nNo food for the pilgrim;
\nThe fruit tree is bare,
\nThe rose bush a thorn
\nAnd the ground is bitter with stones.<\/p>\n
But the mole sleeps, and the hedgehog
\nLies curled in a womb of leaves,
\nThe bean and the wheat-seed
\nHug their germs in the earth
\nAnd the stream moves under the ice.<\/p>\n
Tonight there is no moon,
\nBut a new star opens
\nLike a silver trumpet over the dead.
\nTonight in a nest of ruins
\nThe blessed babe is laid.
\nAnd the fir tree warms to a bloom of candles,
\nAnd the child lights his lantern,
\nStares at his tinselled toy;
\nAnd our hearts and hearths
\nSmoulder with live ashes.<\/p>\n
In the blood of our grief
\nThe cold earth is suckled,
\nIn our agony the womb
\nConvulses its seed;
\nIn the first cry of anguish
\nThe child\u2019s first breath is born.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tonight the wind gnaws With teeth of glass, The jackdaw shivers In caged branches of iron, The stars have talons. There is hunger in the mouth Of vole and badger, Silver agonies of breath In the nostril of the fox, … Continue reading