W: "Winter is Coming."
“Oh, my sweet summer child,” Old Nan said quietly, “what do you know of fear? Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time and little children are born and live and die all in darkness while the dire wolves grow gaunt and hungry and the white walkers move through the woods."
"Thousands and thousands of years ago, a winter fell that was cold and hard and endless beyond all memory of man. There came a night that lasted a generation, and kings shivered and died in their castles even as the swineherds in their hovels. Women smothered their children rather than see them starve, and cried, and felt their tears freeze on their cheeks.” Her voice and her needles fell silent, and she glanced up at Bran with pale, filmy eyes and asked, “So child. This is the sort of story you like?”I am currently reading A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. This is the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Warnings of harsh times ahead are touted by different characters who repeat the foreboding phrase: “winter is coming."
In the passage quoted above, the ancient nursemaid, Nan, describes winter to Bran, the child she takes care of.
I have known this winter. This is the winter of mine, just past. Cold bitterness has gripped my heart and encased it in ice. I was a summer child who knew nothing of winter, until this winter of mine, just past.
My fear is now of long nights of fitful sleep where white walkers come to me in my dreams to remind me of my loss, in this winter of mine just past. The sun's rays do not warm my heart as my tears lay frozen inside, in this winter of mine, just past.
No, this is not the sort of story I like. For I did not want my child to die in this winter of mine, just past.
I have created a page for Anna's Diary. It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.
I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.
Here is today’s entry from Anna’s Diary:
Friday, April 26, 1929
Sunshine again. Lunch at Mrs. Wittenburg’s. Lovely. Stayed home all evening. Jean & Junior to bed very early. Stayed up alone. Felt blue, depressed.
To see more A-Z posts click here.
I am surprised at how often my own mood matches that of Anna. Spanning so many years, yet our human experience is not so different.
ReplyDeleteWinter?????? Oh, no!!!!!!!!!! Say it isn't so!!!!!!!!!! I just got finished picking up the melted leavings of the dog and packed the snowblower (by the way, whenever I pulled out the snowblower, the snowmen were always happy). Spring, summer, fall first, please.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite a stirring post...winter is described beautifully! Thanks for introducing us to this book...sounds compelling, but sad. Just stopping by from the Challenge...
ReplyDeleteMakingTheWriteConnections
That passage is gripping. There are a hundred stories buried in it. Makes me want to write a story about something like that.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by. A Game of Thrones is fast and interesting reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the language in this book is beautiful. A Game of Thrones is an great read.
ReplyDeleteokay, spring, summer and fall first, but Winter IS Coming.
ReplyDeleteYou have weathered a terrible winter--and are weathering it still. This makes me think of the fact that we really carry all those emotional "seasons" with us at any given time. They're not really something we pass through and move on from. The bleak sadness of winter's landscape is always there, but so, too are the bright flowers of spring, the warm days of summer, the richness of fall's harvests. I believe in my heart that this is so, but it's a shame there is no magic spell to make me focus more on the cheerier seasons.
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