WQ #165: Rejoice — Spring is here!

A Prayer in Spring

Robert Frost — 1874-1963

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.

🌹🪻🌼

I know spring officially arrived yesterday, but so did a big drop in temperature. So the early flowers — in our case, crocuses of which we had many this early spring, are now gone. The daffodils are ready to bud as soon as the weather warms.

I have an old book, published in 1899. I bought it from a used bookseller a few years ago because it contains of lot of poetry my mother knew, but for which I could never find the originals. All of its contents are children’s poems and many were also songs. I have never found the poems, lyrics, or music anywhere.

I have the words (and music) in my head. My mother sang these songs, but they are pretty much lost to the world. This book is a compilation of poetry, mostly by authors unknown. Collected and arranged by Lida Brown McMurry and Agnew Spofford Cook. This 17th edition was published in 1899, Bloomington, Illinois. There’s a whole section for each season and for various moods and events but aimed at first and second graders, ages 6 and 7.

Other than crocus, we have one other blooming flower — or had last week.

It was far more springy a week ago than now. We had one lovely week. Warm, windy, sunny days and crisp nights. The crocus bloomed with enthusiasm and many baby birds flapped unevenly to have their first banquet at our birdseed buffet.

Other than crocuses, nothing outside is blooming. This cold patch, is supposed to last about a week, won’t help bring the flowers. But it will warm up. Maybe more than we want, but it will come. Spring will come, however briefly and the flowers — most of them — will bloom. The leaves will stop pollinating and become a green canopy of shade.

Finally, because I found this kind of adorable:

Categories: #Birds, #Flowers, #gallery, #Photography, Anecdote, Gardens, Spring

Tags: #Gallery, #Photography, Marilyn Armstrong, poetry for children, Poetry of Robert Frost