The Gales Of November

When November winds come calling and the prairie turns golden in the early dawn, my mind revisits the poetry and songs that address the month and its impact on humans. Inevitably I recall Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,”

the evocative tale of the loss of a boat on Lake Superior. Once the words get stuck in my head, they tumble over each other, the music and lyrics chilling. Hard to explain why, for me, a single song can so quickly invoke the force and fury of a season, but this one can and does. “When the gales of November come calling…”

English poet Thomas Hood captured the hollowness of this month ‘between’ in his work:

No sun—no moon!

No morn—no noon—

No dawn—no dusk—no proper time of day—

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,

No comfortable feel in any member—

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,

No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds!—

November!

Here’s another by Thomas Hardy that addresses the bleakness of the season:

At day-close in November

The ten hours’ light is abating,

And a late bird wings across,

Where the pines, like waltzers waiting,

Give their black heads a toss.

Beech leaves, that yellow the noontime,

Float past like specks in the eye;

I set every tree in my June time,

And now they obscure the sky.

And the children who ramble through here

Conceive that there never has been

A time when no tall trees grew here,

That none will in time be seen.

I’m certain you can come up with a written or piece of music that captures you in a similar way. I invite you to share them with readers.

Before we are too deep into the month, the outcome of the most serious election of our lifetime will be known. Perhaps that ‘gale’ will pass by with only a whisper. Perhaps we will all be in full-blown terror mode. What is certain is that we will conclude the month in a prayer – of thanksgiving or for deliverance.

May you stand strong when the fierce tides threaten to sink your ship, keep writing your truth, and lean forward in anticipation of a return of vibrancy.