This poem reflects on a father who worked hard every day and on Sundays would wake up early to start a fire before his family woke. Though his hands were cracked and aching from labor, he did this without thanks or acknowledgment from his family. The grown son who is remembering this realizes how much love and care his father provided through these simple acts of kindness and comfort, despite facing indifference from his family. He comes to understand his father's "austere and lonely offices" of parental love and affection.

1. THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS

2. ROBERT HYDEN(1913-1980)
ROBERT HAYDEN IS AN
AMERICAN ESSAYIST AND
EDUCATOR .HIS WORKS
OFTEN ADDRESS THE PLIGHT
OF AFRICAN AMERICANS . HE
HAS WRITTEN POLITICAL
POETRY ,INCLUDING A
SEQUENCE ON THE VIETNAM
WAR

3. THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS IS A POEM
ABOUT A HARD WORKING POOR
FATHER WHO IS BEING FONDLY
REMEMBERED BY HIS GROWN UPSON

4. SUNDAYS TOO MY FATHER GOT UP EARLY AND
PUT HIS CLOTHES ON IN THE BLUEBACK COLD,THEN
WITH CRACKED HANDS THAT’S ACHED FROM
LABOUR IN THE WEEKDAY WEATHERE MADE
BANKED FIRE BLAZE .NO ONE EVER THANKED HIM

5. CRACKED (adj)-HAVING CRACK
ACHE - PAIN
LABOUR -A TASK REQUIRING HARD WORK
WEEKDAY - ANYDAY EXCEPT SUNDAYS
BLAZE - BURN WITH A STRONG FLAME

6. I ‘D WAKE AND HEAR THE COLD SPLINTERING,BREAKING
WHEN THE ROOMS WERE WARM,HE ‘D CALL,AND SLOWLY
I WOULD RISE AND DRESS,FEARING THE CHRONIC ANGERS
OF THAT HOUSE ,
SPLINTERING BREAKING INTO SMALL PIECES
CHRONIC ANGER - ANGER THAT IS PERSISTENT AND
CONTINUOUS CAUSING GREAT DISCOMFORT

7. SPEAKING INDIFFERENTLY TO HIM , WHO HAD DRIVEN
OUT THE COLD AND POLISHED MY GOOD SHOES AS
WELL.WHAT DID I KNOW , WHAT DID I KNOW OF LOVE’S
AUSTERE AND LONELY OFFICES?
INDIFFERENT (adj)- HAVING NO INTEREST IN
AUSTERE - SEVERE AND UNCOMFORTABLE
LONELY - WITHOUT COMPANY
OFFICES - HELPS THAT GIVES TO OTHERS

8. EVEN ON WINTER SUNDAYS , THE LOVING
OLDMAN WOKEUP EARLY IN THE MORNING AND
KINDLED THE FIRE WITH CRACKED HANDS THAT
ACHED ,WHEN EVERY BODY WAS SHIVERING IN THE
BLUE-BLACK COLD.HE IS A LONELY FIGURE WHO
MAKES THE COLD ATMOSPHERE PREVAILING IN
THE HOUSE WARM WITH HIS LOVE’S AUSTERE
OFFICES

9. PARENTAL LOVE AND AFFECTION ARE
EXPRESSED THROUGH SIMPLE AND GENTLE
ACTS OF CARE AND KINDNESS SUCH AS
KINDLING THE FIRE AND POLISHING THE SHOES
WITHOUT EXPECTING OTHERS TO THANK HIM
OR LOVE HIM .EVEN THE SON WAS THANKLESS
TO HIM WHICH HE REALISED LATER AND FELT
REGRET THAT

10. ASSIGNMENT
WRITE A POEM ABOUT YOUR FATHER