This Blog Exists to Affirm Faith in Our Country, Our President,
and Almighty God.
NEGATIVE VIEWS ARE
NOT WELCOME.
OCTOBER'S BRIGHT BLUE WEATHER
O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather.
When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;
When Gentians roll their fringes tight,
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning.
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning.
When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;
When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;
When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;
When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.
O suns and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.
~ Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)
Wonderful October imagery!
ReplyDeleteI must say, however, that the Golden Rod cannot die off to soon for me. Allergies and sneezing fits here as it's been dry and windy for the past several days.
Well, everything does have its downside, –– or so it seems, –– doesn't it?
DeleteMy father would empathize with you greatly, AOW. He suffered dreadfully from "Hy Fever –– allergies to Ragweed, Golden Rod, and Joe Pyeweed.
My mother and I were lucky, because we did not.
Eventually my father got ver his Hay fever. It left him when I was eight years old.
Mother always said he got ver it, because her cooking was so superor to my grandmother's "greasy fare."
INTERESTNG HISTORICAL NOTE: Helen Hunt Jackson (née Fiske) was born in AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS in 1830 –– the same year as Emily Dickinson. They both died in their mid-fifties within a year of each other –– Jackson in 1885, Dickinsn in 1886. Jackson, however, moved to Californa at an early age, so the two poets did not grow up together. I'm not even sure they ever knew each other, despite having been born in the same year and the same town. Jackson was a good poet; Dickinson a great one. Of the two Jackson lived a more "normal" outgoing life, married had children, wrote and published novels as well as poetry, and became deeply involved in "Community Affairs" as only a typical reform-minded New England Busybody could. I'm sure, ifJscksonwere alive today, she'd be a Democrat (SHUDDER! ;-)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"Better the EMPTY house tham the UNWELCOME guest, ya bloomin' idiot!
Delete};^)>
_______ __OCTOBER _______
ReplyDelete__
Scratching –– astringent!
_____ the brilliant sky assaults the eye
While wads of cloud, though blinding white
_____ soften the blows of stinging light.
Summer’s splendor
_____ claws at the commanding blue
__________ hating –– supplicating ––
Submitting at last in a fiery blast ––
_____ a scornful array –– deceptively gay
__________ of every vigorous hue.
Walls made of stone crack and groan
_____ at the coming of frost ––
Flowers die beneath the sky ––
_____ Pods of seed split open and bleed ––
__________ scattering –– Hope ––
_______________ on earth –– in air ––
Riding on wind that sounds like Despair,
_____ But sings in harsh voice ––
__________ as it stiffens the frost ––
_____ Nothing is lost!
__________ Nothing is lost!
~ FreeThine (1974)
Kay Maybelle St. Clair-Bromfield said
DeleteWhoever wrote this poem is a better poet than Helen Hunt Jackson. This is so strikingly original. Nothing prosaic about it.
Do you know the poet? His work is very much a work of the twentieth-century, but it captures the feeling of an older, mellower time , almost like England before t he first war with Germany.
I wouldn't dare say that, Ms St.Clair-Bromfield, but I'm glad FreeThinke's OCTOBER struck you right.
DeleteYour hyphenated surname makes you sound British. Am I right?
Good morning Mr. Blue Sky!
ReplyDeleteBlue skies smiling at me
DeleteNothing but blue skies do i see
Blue birds singing a song
Nothing but blue skies from now on
Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my how they fly
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothing but blue skies from now on
Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do i see
Bluebirds singing a song
Nothing but blue skies from now on
~ Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
[NOTE: Everyone ought to read Irving Berlin's life story. A Russian-Jewish immigrant who came here as boy, and became one of the most successful –– and universally beloved –– sogwruters in all human history. He wrote literally hundreds of songs many of them enduring hits annd all-time popular music standard, includi g God Bless America, White Christmas, Alexander's ragtime band, and the tender, poignant ballad You Forgot to Remember, sung so beautifully by Kathryn Grayson in he portrayal American-born opera star Grace Moore. He also gave s Annie Get Your Gun.Berlin probably loved the USA more than anyone. He helped define American popular culture in a big way back when American was still America. He, who began here as poor Jewish immigrant boy from Czarist Russia became a truly Great American –– one of the very best. God bless him!]
It is admittedly struggling to remain America. The America I loved anyway.
DeleteI understand, Anonymous, but thanks to the gifts of Memory, and Reason we can –– and we MUST –– keep our cherished ideals alive in our hearts, and do what we can to foster love for those things in younger generations.
DeleteNot easy, I know, –– maybe not even possible ––, but I believe with all my heart that we must TRY. It would be a SIN to admit defeat and accept the perverse notion that "All is Lost," bcause that would make it so.
Admitting Defeat is exactly what the Forces of Darkness WANT us to do –– what they've been workng toward since the Dawn of Creation.
Miriam Janacek said
ReplyDeleteThe illustrations capture so perfectly the spirit of the poem it almost takes my breath away. However do you locate the pictures you use? They're often distinguished.
Thank you for this lovely respite from the acrimony of contemorary politics. It was a great treat.
A wonderful poem. Winter nears.
ReplyDeleteFranco,
ReplyDeleteI don't comment often anywhere on the web.
But I must say that I really enjoy your poetry posts. Please publish poetry posts more often!
Tha k you, Marmee. So many pop in here only to tell me to stop posting "that crap," that I sometimes get discouraged. Most seem to want only to express disapproval, hatred and contempt ALL THE TIME. Sorry, but I think that's SICK.
DeleteI've always beleved we need to nourish our souls as well as our minds and bodies in order to live a satisfying lii. That's not a popular view these days, I know, but I believe the current lack of respect and admiration for Beauty, Ingenuity and Creativity may be at the heart of what's so obviously wrong with the way we live today.
"MAN DOES NOT LIVE bY BREAD ALONE . . ."
BLUE SKIES SCHEDULED TO RETURN IN JANUARY 2020. RIGHT SOON FOLLOWING THE INAUGURATION OF OUR NEW DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope that won't be the case, but –– unlike you People of the Left –– I am willing to leave the ultimate deciion up to the God you refuse to believe in, and ACCEPT the decision.
Delete"MAN proposes, but GOD disposes," –– whether we LIKE it or not
God gave us President TRUMP in 2016. Your unwillngness to accept His verdict has caused no end of unnecessary division, acrimony, destructive passion, and the THWARTING of many highly desirable aspects of President Trump's nble Agenda, because ALL your anti-Trump antics.have been predicated on nothing wiser, higher, finer or nobler than HYPOCRISY fueled by SHEER S_P_I_T_E.
This lfamous ine from Proverbs keeps reverberating in my head every time I turn on the news these days:
"He Who Troubleth His Own House Shall Inherit –– the Wind."
It might profit you and your Colleagues in Calumny to keep that in mind before you start spouting venom and spitting out sarcastic foolishness next time. The harm you do may primarily be to yourselves.