Song of Scarlet
"Song of Scarlet" by Edwina Stanton Babcock is a lyrical poem that celebrates the vivid persistence of natural beauty against the onset of winter's cold. The poem centers on the striking image of black-alder berries, whose scarlet clusters stand out brilliantly against a landscape that has otherwise been stripped bare by the season. Through a recurring refrain — "It's going to be cold" — the poem builds a rhythmic tension between warning and wonder, acknowledging the harshness of the coming season while simultaneously marveling at the bold vitality that refuses to yield to it. The poem observes the Commons grown bare, leaves scattering like small brown sparrows across the ground, locust pods rattling on skeletal branches, and the wind turning sharp and relentless. These are familiar signs of late autumn's surrender to winter. Yet amid this general retreat and decay, the alder berries persist, described as rubies, as necklaces, as scarlet trinkets hung upon the shivering year — ornaments of life strung across the heath where milkweed has already gone to seed. Other hardy survivors appear as well: reindeer moss retaining its vitality, thorn-berries tossing near the holly, small pockets of color and life holding their ground against the grey encroachment. The poem's emotional turn comes in its final lines, where the tone shifts from observation to defiant celebration. Rather than yielding to dread or resignation, the speaker calls for wood-fires to be piled high and asks who cares if it is cold when such brightness remains. The scarlet berries become a symbol not merely of botanical endurance but of a broader human spirit — the capacity to find warmth, beauty, and even joy in the face of severity. The cold is real, the poem insists, but it is not the whole story.
By Edwina Stanton Babcock · Genre: Poetry, Nature Poetry, Seasonal/Autumn Poetry