Teeth of glass

Today the north wind gnawed with teeth of glass.  This could be them.


The line comes from this poem

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 
Ice on the rabbit’s paw 
Tonight has no moon, no food for the pilgrim 
The fruit tree is bare, the rose bush a thorn 
And the ground is bitter with stones 
But the mole sleeps and the hedgehog lies curled in a womb of leaves 
And the bean and the wheat seed hug their germs in the earth 
And a stream moves under the ice 
Tonight there is no moon 
But a star opens like a trumpet over the dead 
And tonight in a nest of ruins the blessed babe is laid 
And the fir tree warms to a bloom of candles 
And the child lights his lantern and stares at his tinsel toy 
And our hearts and hearths smoulder with live ashes 
In the blood of our grief the cold earth is suckled 
In our agony the womb convulses its seed 
And in the last cry of anguish 
The child’s first breath is born


Winter Poem by Laurie Lee