Last Week was Groundhog Day, So Let Me Repeat Myself...Again.

Jeff—Saturday

Today being Groundhog Day in the US (a tradition brought to Pennsylvania in the 1700s from Europe), if Punxsatawney Phil sees his shadow we’re in for six more weeks of winter, something none of us in the throes of the Polar Vortex wishes to imagine. That led me to search through my old blog posts for what I was certain was a piece I’d done before about that cute little critter.

But I didn’t find it. Or rather I stopped looking when I came across a parody I’d written six years ago to the day based upon Robert Frost’s most famous poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.  I couldn’t believe how on point what I wrote is for today’s troubles, even though it long preceded what we’re now experiencing.

Does that mean we’re always in troubling times of one form or another?  Or does it mean something else? I don’t know, I just wrote it. You’ll have to tell me what it means.

So, in the hope that Robert Frost forgives me, here we go—

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Whose words these are I think I know.

My mind is on to pillage though;

To find something for blogging clear

Some thoughts that matter, not for show. 

My blogmates all must think it queer

To see a poem this time here

With so much news of fraud and fake,

And daily tales of more to fear.

 

But now I think it’s time to wake

And trust there might be some mistake.

To hope somewhere beyond the sweep

There will be peace for all God’s sake.

 

We know what’s out there’s dark and deep.

And if we choose we all could weep,

But I prefer to pause to reap,

The promises men swore to keep.

*****

As a footnote, permit me to offer this additional little ditty.

Of all the words Frost did compose.

The ones that hit it on the nose,

For how to live amid the whirl,

Are those his tombstone did unfurl:

“I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.”

Not a bad philosophy for all that’s about us these days.

—Jeff

****

Here's Jeff’s current tour schedule for A STUDY IN SECRET, (now out from Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books):

 

 2026

All Live Events

Saturday, February 7, 3:00 p.m. CT
Murder By The Book
Author Speaking and Signing
Houston, TX

 

Wednesday, February 11, 6:00 p.m. ET
Mysterious Bookshop
Author Speaking and Signing
New York, NY

 

Thursday, March 26, 7:00 p.m. MT
The Poisoned Pen Bookstore
Author Speaking and Signing
Scottsdale, AZ

 

Friday, April 10, 6:30 p.m.

Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Author Speaking and Signing
Pittsburgh, PA