A January Dandelion
by George Marion McClellan
All Nashville is a chill. And everywhere
Like desert sand, when the winds blow,
There is each moment sifted through the air,
A powdered blast of January snow.
O! thoughtless Dandelion, to be misled
By a few warm days to leave thy natural bed,
Was folly growth and blooming over soon.
And yet, thou blasted yellow-coated gem,
Full many a heart has but a common boon
With thee, now freezing on thy slender stem.
When the heart has bloomed by the touch of love’s warm breath
Then left and chilling snow is sifted in,
It still may beat but there is blast and death
To all that blooming life that might have been.
About This Poem
“A January Dandelion” was first published in George Marion McClellan’s second collection of poetry, The Path of Dreams (J. P. Morton, 1916). McClellan’s poems often feature nature and religion, and have been compared to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poems.
George Marion McClellan was born on September 29, 1860, in Belfast, Tennessee. McClellan received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Fisk University and a bachelor of divinity from Hartford Theological Seminary. He worked as a minister, teacher, and principal, while also writing poetry. He published two collections of poems before his death in 1934.
