--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How like a winter has been my hard spring…" description: "\"“How like a winter has been my hard spring away from you, my harp. --Psalm”\" — David Lehman" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/836/david-lehman-35400_harp_how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-sprin_2770445.png" --- # How like a winter has been my hard spring away from you… ![“How like a winter has been my hard spring away from you, my harp. --Psalm” quote by David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/836/david-lehman-35400_harp_how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-sprin_2770445.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/836/david-lehman-35400_harp_how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-sprin_2770445.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/836/david-lehman-35400_harp_how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-sprin_2770445.png) > ““How like a winter has been my hard spring away from you, my harp. --Psalm”” [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Uses winter imagery to convey a sense of emotional coldness and longing, likening a difficult period to a harsh season away from a loved one. **In simple terms:** Hard times feel like a cold winter away from love. Key Takeaway Acknowledge emotional hardship. Themes love loss seasonal metaphor Mood melancholic hopeful Type poetic reflective When to use this quote - grief counseling - creative writing - seasonal affective disorder Key Concepts poetry emotional resonance Questions to Reflect On - What does “hard spring” symbolize for you? - How can you find warmth in cold periods? A Different Perspective May romanticize suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Harp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harp/) [Love poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-poetry/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Psalm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psalm/) [Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/winter/) ## Related quotes > [Whither away, Bluebird, Whither away? The blast is chill, yet in the upper sky Thou still canst find the color of thy wing, The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-clarence-stedman/whither-away-bluebird-whither-away-the-blast-is-chill-yet-in-the/) [Edmund Clarence Stedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-clarence-stedman/) > [“Psalm 107:20 says, “He sent forth his word and healed them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/psalm-107-20-says-he-sent-forth-his-word-and-healed-them/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-lord-makes-firm-the-steps-of-the-one-who-delights-in-him-though/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,” he said, “from whence cometh my help.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nevil-shute/i-will-lift-up-mine-eyes-unto-the-hills-he-said-from-whence-cometh-my/) [Nevil Shute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nevil-shute/) > [“Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bible-n-t-john-english-barclay-1975/be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god-psalm-46-10/) Bible. N.T. John. English. Barclay. 1975 > [He putteth down one and setteth up another. -Psalm lxxv. 7](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bible/he-putteth-down-one-and-setteth-up-another-psalm-lxxv-7/) [Bible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bible/) > [Jerusalem is a festival and a lamentation. Its song is a sigh across the ages, a delicate, robust, mournful psalm at the great junction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-k-shipler/jerusalem-is-a-festival-and-a-lamentation-its-song-is-a-sigh-across/) [David K. Shipler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-k-shipler/) > [“There is an incessant influx of novelty into the world, and yet we tolerate incredible dulness. I need only suggest what kind of sermons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/there-is-an-incessant-influx-of-novelty-into-the-world-and-yet-we/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Psalm 127. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-stimpson/psalm-127-except-the-lord-build-the-house-they-labour-in-vain-that/) [Michelle Stimpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-stimpson/) > [“I came across a contemporary version of the twenty-third Psalm entitled “Psalm 23 Revisited.” In it, the author captures perfectly where many of us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-cordeiro/i-came-across-a-contemporary-version-of-the-twenty-third-psalm/) [Wayne Cordeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-cordeiro/) > [“PSALM 115 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/psalm-115-not-to-us-o-lord-not-to-us-but-to-your-name-give-glory-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Come, let us sing a psalm, and drive away the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/come-let-us-sing-a-psalm-and-drive-away-the-devil/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 (KJV)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bel-claveria-carig-martinez/be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god-psalm-46-10-kjv/) [Bel Claveria Carig Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bel-claveria-carig-martinez/) > [“Her prose was a hammer; Darwin’s was a psalm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/her-prose-was-a-hammer-darwin-s-was-a-psalm/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. —PSALM 2:8”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heidi-baker/ask-of-me-and-i-will-make-the-nations-your-inheritance-the-ends-of/) [Heidi Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heidi-baker/) ## More by David Lehman > [Poetry criticism at its worst today is mean in spirit and spiteful in intent, as if determined to inflict the wound that will spur…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/poetry-criticism-at-its-worst-today-is-mean-in-spirit-and-spiteful-in/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [Words can have no single fixed meaning. Like wayward electrons, they can spin away from their initial orbit and enter a wider magnetic field.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/words-can-have-no-single-fixed-meaning-like-wayward-electrons-they/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [If you're not paying for it through the health plan, you pay for it in the emergency room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/if-you-re-not-paying-for-it-through-the-health-plan-you-pay-for-it-in/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [The best song lyrics seem to me so artful, so brilliant, so warm and humorous, with both passion and wit, that my admiration is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/the-best-song-lyrics-seem-to-me-so-artful-so-brilliant-so-warm-and/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [“…When a woman loves a man, they have gone to swim naked in the stream on a glorious July day with the sound of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/when-a-woman-loves-a-man-they-have-gone-to-swim-naked-in-the-stream/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [I am completing a book I began back in 2002 called 'Poems in the Manner of.' 'The Matador of Metaphor' is from this manuscript.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/i-am-completing-a-book-i-began-back-in-2002-called-poems-in-the/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable; it gives an air of novelty and specious profundity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/jargon-is-the-verbal-sleight-of-hand-that-makes-the-old-hat-seem/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [Obscurantism is the academic theorist's revenge on society for having consigned him or her to relative obscurity - a way of proclaiming one's superiority…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/obscurantism-is-the-academic-theorist-s-revenge-on-society-for-having/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [“When a woman loves a man, they have gone to swim naked in the stream on a glorious July day with the sound of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/when-a-woman-loves-a-man-they-have-gone-to-swim-naked-in-the-stream-2/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [If you have too good a time writing hostile reviews, you'll injure not only your sensibility but your soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/if-you-have-too-good-a-time-writing-hostile-reviews-you-ll-injure-not/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [“When she says margarita she means daiquiri. When she says quixotic she means mercurial. And when she says, "I'll never speak to you again,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/when-she-says-margarita-she-means-daiquiri-when-she-says-quixotic-she/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [There is an air of last things, a brooding sense of impending annihilation, about so much deconstructive activity, in so many of its guises;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/there-is-an-air-of-last-things-a-brooding-sense-of-impending/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) [Explore all 13 David Lehman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) ## More Harp quotes > [(As a boy) I was listening to Sonny Boy Williamson's (I) records and I would close my eyes and I could visualize myself playing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junior-wells/as-a-boy-i-was-listening-to-sonny-boy-williamson-s-i-records-and-i/) Junior Wells > [We've got a great team sport, but we harp on about individuals. It's a bit contradictory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alun-wyn-jones/we-ve-got-a-great-team-sport-but-we-harp-on-about-individuals-it-s-a/) [Alun Wyn Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alun-wyn-jones/) > [Nature is an aeolian harp, a musical instrument whose tones are the re-echo of higher strings within us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/novalis/nature-is-an-aeolian-harp-a-musical-instrument-whose-tones-are-the-re/) [Novalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/novalis/) > [I am producing sounds that people are not used to hearing from the harp.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-newsom/i-am-producing-sounds-that-people-are-not-used-to-hearing-from-the/) [Joanna Newsom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-newsom/) > [During the reign of Rameses III (the Twentieth Dynasty) Egypt saw a flowering of its civilization and the harp became the royal instrument of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corinne-heline/during-the-reign-of-rameses-iii-the-twentieth-dynasty-egypt-saw-a/) [Corinne Heline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corinne-heline/) > [Two touch the string, The harp is dumb.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/two-touch-the-string-the-harp-is-dumb/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“Strike, with hand of fire, O weird musician, thy harp strung with Apollo's golden hair; fill the vast cathedral aisles with symphonies sweet and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-g-ingersoll/strike-with-hand-of-fire-o-weird-musician-thy-harp-strung-with-apollo/) [Robert G. Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-g-ingersoll/) > [“My music teacher offered twittering madrigals and something about how, in Italy, in Italy, the oranges hang on the tree. He treated me -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-rose-o-reilley/my-music-teacher-offered-twittering-madrigals-and-something-about-how/) [Mary Rose O'Reilley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-rose-o-reilley/) > [I didn't sing for years and years, but I started playing harp when I was maybe 9 or 10. I had actually wanted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-newsom/i-didn-t-sing-for-years-and-years-but-i-started-playing-harp-when-i/) [Joanna Newsom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-newsom/) > [It's defeatist to harp on what might have been, and yet, it's hard to resist considering what might have been.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-reeve/it-s-defeatist-to-harp-on-what-might-have-been-and-yet-it-s-hard-to/) [Christopher Reeve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-reeve/) > [“He finally took his harp out of the cobwebs, walked out the door, and admitted who he was: the Unforgiven.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-a-mckillip/he-finally-took-his-harp-out-of-the-cobwebs-walked-out-the-door-and/) [Patricia A. McKillip](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-a-mckillip/) > [There's something fundamental to the harp that has retained its appeal my whole life. It's an instrument I am just in love with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-newsom/there-s-something-fundamental-to-the-harp-that-has-retained-its/) [Joanna Newsom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-newsom/) > [“It’s a shameful indictment of the shabby way we live nowadays, but we have to face the fact that most of you won’t have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-powell/it-s-a-shameful-indictment-of-the-shabby-way-we-live-nowadays-but-we/) [John Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-powell/) > [Go ye, who rest so placidly upon the sacred Bard who had been young, and when he strung his harp was old, and had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/go-ye-who-rest-so-placidly-upon-the-sacred-bard-who-had-been-young/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [The harp sounds at each passing breeze, but that does not mean the tune is masterfully played.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-carey/the-harp-sounds-at-each-passing-breeze-but-that-does-not-mean-the/) [Jacqueline Carey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-carey/) [Browse all 95 Harp quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harp/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“How like a winter has been my hard spring away from you, my harp. --Psalm”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Lehman" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-spring-away-from-you-my-harp-psalm/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Harp" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-spring-away-from-you-my-harp-psalm/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/836/david-lehman-35400_harp_how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-sprin_2770445.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/836/david-lehman-35400_harp_how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-sprin_2770445.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/836/david-lehman-35400_harp_how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-sprin_2770445.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“How like a winter has been my hard spring away from you, my harp. --Psalm” — David Lehman", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "David Lehman", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“How like a winter has been...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-spring-away-from-you-my-harp-psalm/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/how-like-a-winter-has-been-my-hard-spring-away-from-you-my-harp-psalm/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```