Poetry Friday.
What happened to spring?
Just when I thought spring
had arrived, with a bling
summer came on its wing
Or has it?
-Alice Nine
.
Ā
Cherry Blossoms April 22, 2018
I have been delighting in our blossoming cherry trees this past week. Like everything, they are a bit late and perhaps I’ve enjoyed them even more because of that. That made me think of a poem . . .Ā
Loveliest of Trees
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
–A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
Hmmmm…. Is anyone else pondering that second stanza . . .Ā 😎
All month, in celebration of poetry, I have been pairing quotes about poetry with images. Here are a few of my favorites.
Shadows: My granddaughter, then 4 years old, with me. She was fascinated by our shadows.
“Finding Captain Jeremiah Stiles” is a slice about breaking bread with the dead.
Irene atĀ Live Your Poem is hosting
the week’s Round-Up.
#PoetryFriday
Poetry Friday Schedule
January – June 2018
Poetry is an umbrella on a rainy day, jibes nicely with my poem this week. š
I just stopped by and read your poem… it does jibe nicely. š In case anyone reads this comment and wonders I’m linking to your beautiful poem.
Wonderful. I hope I get a ping on my post. š
Alice, I am coming around late this weekend because life has been so busy. I enjoyed your post, the first poem and the quotes. The last quote of Jane’s that you designed is what struck me. I think it would make a great visual my spring gallery, Sense-sational Spring. May I showcase this from you and Jane? I also really liked your conversation with Christie about a future lesson plan. Think spring, not summer. We are not there yet. You should place your digital quotes on a Pinterest Board for others to see.
Carol, I’m so glad you came by… it is never too late. š You are more than welcome to use any of the quote-image pairings I’ve posted. The photos are under Creative Commons and are identified as “Free for commercial use. No attribution required.” We are have a high in the chilly 50s after a couple days with the high in the 80s {sigh}. Thanks for your encouraging words… I will have to find some time to do what you suggest.
I was chatting with our night janitor last Friday and he predicted that we’d launch straight into summer. I hope it’s not true!
I LOVE AE Houseman’s poem. It’s one of several I have memorized and I recited it over and over again as I drove to school last week. On that second stanza, I’m more at the “of my three-score years and ten, FIFTY will not come again” stage. It’s always humbling to think of how few springs one has left to savor…
How cool that this is a poem you have memorized and were enjoying this week! I’m not even going near that second stanza. Hahaha!
Hello Alice! Love your poem. Isn’t that what spring always does? It just toys with us….one day spring, next day summmer? Where I live, we could see a day of winter in there too. One year, it snowed on the last day of school in JUNE! It was my first year of teaching – and it was the longest day of my life! Thank you for your beautiful images too. I do want to try this sometime!
I can only imagine what your class must have been like on that day!!! I’ve lived where we had summer snow… once on the 4th of July, not much but enough to make it memorable!
Oh I can so relate to that first weather poem! Kind of schizophrenic this year… and oh, your pairings of quotes and pics are breathtaking! I love them all. Thank you!
Thank you, Irene. Our springs are usually breathtakingly beautiful. But not this year. My irises are usually tall with large deep purple flowers. This year they are only a few inches above the ground and with half as many flowers as usual.
The weather has certainly inspired a lot of poetry this year! Spring is still making tentative steps in Maine, but is leaving clear footprints behind. We’re on the right path! Thanks for sharing the Houseman poem as well–spring and cherry blossoms are surely to be savored and it never hurts to have a reminder!
I think you are right… we seem to have written much more than usual about weather. Have a wonderful week!
I think this happened to us today too. Is it really here! I love your quotes, too, especially that Sandburg one, “Poetry is an echo. . .” Thanks, Alice.
Yes, the echo asking the shadow to dance is rich!
I like your spunky rhythm poem Alice, and this line,
“summer came on its wing
Or has it?”
We haven’t quite got there yet in Chicago.
Enjoying more of your images and quotes, lovely, thanks!
Thank you, Michelle. š
I love your poem of spring’s tease this year! And that Houseman poem–I will be thinking about it.
Thanks for coming by, Kay. š
Oh, I noticed that second stanza right away. That Housman was a reflective YOUNG man, but I still agree that it’s worth stopping to look at the cherry blossoms
Yes, he was. I must mention that I look up his bio and he lived beyond his “threescore years and ten.”
Reading your poem, I worried winter had returned. Summer is much better than spring. Fun rhyme between “spring and fling.”
š Thanks, Glenda!
That’s a whole lotta math in that 2nd stanza, Alice! Yes, it does seem spring has finally arrived, or at least winter has released it’s deathgrip on it. Happy Poetry Friday!
Iām thinking this could be a mentor poem for an end-of-year poem ā 1st stanza: share a memory / observation; 2nd stanza: do some math based on school years instead of life expectancy; 3rd stanza: project future occurrences. What do you think?
Perfect! I think that’s a great idea. Nice closure activity.