[originally posted on my real blog in December 2011] A soupcon of Milly Jourdain: Because I have to play Christmas carols for hours and hours tomorrow, I may have no available fingers for typing a blog post. So I'll give you the next two Milly poems. As the only living experts on her oeuvre, what do you think?

Beacon Hill

Milly Jourdain

I hear the deep sea sounding through the pines,

I breathe the wash of air, all cold and clear

And know the peace that lives among the stones

With nothing near.

And then I try to see my little life,

The huge and quiet earth around me spread,

And blue hills far away, that make me feel

Without a dread.

The freshness of this scene is with me still

--In Memory's freshness that can never wane--

And all the music of the many pines

I hear again.

A Phantom Sea

Milly Jourdain

We saw from dull suburban streets

A sudden space of light--

A level line of misty hills

And shiny spots of white.

O how it made me long to feel

The sea was really there

The sharp wind blowing on my face

And sea-sounds in the air!

The hills are like my shadowed life

Where only I can sea

The waves and white sailed ships that float

On its immensity.