May, Spring and Robert Frost

May is here with apple blossoms, tulips and daffodils.  The lilacs have begun to bloom and even the peonies have opened their luscious buds to embrace the sun of spring.  My favourite season.  Robert Frost says it best in his poem Prayer in Spring which he opens with: "oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today..."

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. 

~ Robert Frost

("A Prayer in Spring" was first published in 1915 in a collection of poetry titled A Boy's Will.)

Skywatch Friday

Those of you who've had true wintery weather lately will understand the thrill one feels when sun is visible again.  So Tuesday morning, when the day dawned brilliant and bright, I was right there to take a couple photos.  My sister sent me an email the other day saying something like "how about all this snow?".  She loves it!  I shake my head in wonderment.  Yes, I mean, it is beautiful to look at but not to drive in.  Just ask the guy down the street, or the FedEx gal or a recent visitor who all got stuck on our street.  Not particularly my idea of fun.  Some just endure winter, knowing that spring is just around the corner.  Some favour winter for the cooler temperatures, the pristine beauty of a crisp white blanket of snow, the winter sports.  I guess I am somewhere in between.  It's not all bad, especially now that I photograph it daily.  I have come to a new appreciation of this season.  I remember enjoying it as a child.  Tobogganing, skating, building snowmen and forts, and even the odd snowball fight.  So, now, when mornings dawn as glorious as this, I capture the moment in awe of the beauty, and the crispness of the morning air, mind you, as I do so.

I found a lovely Robert Frost poem that rallies me, reminding me to enjoy those tender moments ere they pass by.  Enjoy.

A Winter Eden

A winter garden in an alder swamp,

Where conies now come out to sun and romp,

As near a paradise as it can be

And not melt snow or start a dormant tree.

It lifts existence on a plane of snow

One level higher than the earth below,

One level nearer heaven overhead,

And last year's berries shining scarlet red.

It lifts a gaunt luxuriating beast

Where he can stretch and hold his highest feat

On some wild apple tree's young tender bark,

What well may prove the year's high girdle mark.

So near to paradise all pairing ends:

Here loveless birds now flock as winter friends,

Content with bud-inspecting. They presume

To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom.

A feather-hammer gives a double knock.

This Eden day is done at two o'clock.

An hour of winter day might seem too short

To make it worth life's while to wake and sport.

-Robert Frost-

 Enjoying those moments when winter suns brighten monochrome gardens and grey skies with the gang at
Sky Watch Friday.  Join us as we embrace the beauty or come participate by linking your photos with the rest.

Nothing Gold Can Stay - SOOC

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold,

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

Many many years ago an ancestor on my grandfather's side of the family was friends with Robert Frost who gave this man a book of his poetry.  It stayed in the family and was passed down to my grandfather.  Sadly, about 50 years ago a fire encompassed their farm home and all was lost, no casualties, but the book went the way of the house.  So sad, it would be such a treasure indeed.

This photo was taken early October in my yard.  This I am contributing to SOOC.  See more Straight Out of the Camera shots here:  http://www.murrieta365.com/search/label/SOOC%20Sunday