Muse and Mint

Chapter 12: THE CHRYSALIS

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About This Book

A varied collection of short lyrical poems that observes nature and rural life, using seasonal imagery—sap, snow, rivers, cherries—and simple domestic scenes to reflect on change, beauty, and small joys. Sections shift between fireside recollections, sentimental and philosophical meditations, homiletic and religious pieces, and light humor, blending devotional songlike verses with moral aphorisms and affectionate memory. The voice moves between wistful and buoyant moods, finding consolation and ethical insight in commonplace experiences, while concise stanzas and vivid images emphasize mood and moral reflection rather than a continuous narrative.

THE CHRYSALIS

Come out of your Winter shell, old grub

Of horns and crusty twist,

And with your fellows elbows rub

More like a humanist!

A spiral armor’s very well

For its eccentric curve,

But not a gloomy hermit-cell

Of cynical reserve.

Come out of your Winter shell, old slug

Of dormant sense and soul!

You’re far too round and hard and smug;

Your Summer self unroll

And show you’ve got some nature left

That sprouts an airy wing;

The man of humus is bereft

Who can’t respond to Spring.

Come out of your Winter shell, old worm

Of wrapped-up gossamer,

If you would burst your scaly derm

And let the spirit stir;

For after all, for better things

A man created is

Than lying with imprisoned wings

A half-dead chrysalis.