How do you feel about the wind? I don’t know if it’s something people really think about all that often but I do, ever since learning about pathetic fallacy in English Literature all those years ago I’m obsessed with how the weather reflects our mood or vice versa,
I’ve had a long standing vendetta against the wind. I found it made me snappy, grumpy, unreasonable. I mean, yes its true I could have been snappy, grumpy and unreasonable for many reasons (looking at you hormones and/or hunger) but I blamed the wind.
Maybe it was whipping emotions into a frenzy, messing with auras, moving things out of whack- whatever it was the wind made my aggy.
For years I viewed it as kind of a pointless weather, an inconvenience, an annoyance. It messes up your hair, makes you walk with a squinty wind face, threatens to change your expression forever, it makes opening a car door in a car park an absolute liability, it brings in and takes away unusual nannies. None of that is good stuff.
I remember when I had my first little boy and we would take him on a walk and when a bit of wind picked up his little face would startle, lips pursed, eyes wide and I was convinced, if babies don’t like the wind then it definitely wasn’t for me.
Then in 2020 I really started to hate the wind as my husband adopted a new hobby- wing foiling- one that required hours of set up and dismantling. It took him out of the house for hours and brought him home in a bad mood when he’d had a frustrating session. Here was the wind, a non-weather now being harnessed and leaving me on my own and returning me with a grumpy partner. (To be fair, once he started getting good the bad moods faded but still- damn the wind).
I subscribe to the popular adage, there is no such thing as bad weather… and so when it turned out to be super windy the day I’d planned to go for a walk this week I knew I couldn’t use it as an excuse. It was REALLY windy- my hat blew off twice kinda windy- but the sun was shining and it was still a fairly beautiful day.
After seven miles though the wind seemed inconsequential. It became a companion on my walk, pushing me along, sending me in the right direction. When I headed into the wind it was fresh, something to walk towards, it was galvanising in a way I hadn’t expected.
That night, when I came to read my three year old his bedtime poem this was it, and it felt like kismet.
Wind Song
When the wind blows
The quiet things speak
Some whisper, some clang,
Some creak.
Grasses swish.
Treetops sign,
Flags slap
and snap at the sky,
Wires on poles
whistle and hum.
Ashcans roll.
Windows drum.
When the wind goes-
suddenly
then,
the quiet things
are quiet again.
Lilian Moore
Gamechanger.
And I feel so humbled. Like my whole perspective has changed and this, this magical attitude is what I want to pass on to my children. A positive outlook that sheds a whole other light on the world around us and I love it. Here is the wind bringing things to life, changing the world around us and I just think that’s kind of beautiful.
I find it magic that a poem has changed the way I think. Three short verses and here I am totally altering my mindset and thinking about how I can apply this attitude to my life and use it with my children.
That’s the power of poetry though isn’t it. It can get you right in the feels, really make you stop and think. I love that, and so not only has this poem given me the wind, its reminded me of my love for poetry. Please do let me know any poetry recommendations you have and let me know if you’d like any more from me.
Much love
Katie
I’ve never read this poem before, I absolutely love it! It’s so true, the quiet things do speak in the wind. I’ve always loved the wind though, started when I was young horse riding feeling the speed through the wind then as I got older the beach in the wind is my favourite, it’s so therapeutic, happy or sad. Makes my emotions feel as strong as the wind. Love it.