Its latest leaves and the cold north wind has shaken
The glory from the woods, at that same moment
The lively husbandman projects his thoughts
Into the coming year…”
A husband in a family is like a husband of the land. The cycle of home-life mirrors that of farm-life. And while fore-sight is always in season, winter is especially for looking to the future. The coming year is the object of careful and lively forethought.
A husband looks to the future because of those that he sees today. In his home. More than the fields and animals, and more than any business concern, their life is the object of his caring concern. What can he do now, and in the coming months, to cultivate, deepen, and enrich their life? Concretely. Where a husband’s heart is, there he projects his thoughts…into the coming year.
Virgil (70-19 B.C.) is the great Roman poet, author of The Aeneid and The Georgics. In the Divine Comedy Virgil appears as Dante’s guide through hell and purgatory. The title of The Georgics is from the Greek word meaning agricultural things.
And today we celebrate...