This week, the trees popped green one day and suffered hail the next.
The cats dragged muddy paws through the house and across the bed.
The laundry’s overflowed upon the floor.
This week, our eldest had to take her first big whopper of a standardized test.
We had to go to lost-and-found three times.
The plumber’s bid came in too high.
This week, I tossed and turned and woke up too early four mornings out of five.
Including today.
But a couple of hours later, walking up the sidewalk into school, I saw that the sign out front had been changed, to this:
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.
Which is Frost. Just waiting for us on this chilly, tired Friday of a day.
I read it aloud to the girls and, honestly, I nearly cried with relief.
They smiled and took my hands and pulled me toward the front doors.
I think they were finding me a little unstable.
But I assure you I’m not.
How could I be, in the springing of the year?
A Prayer in Spring
— By Robert Frost
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…
(Read the rest here…)
Touch of spring fever over there? Poetry to the rescue. Thanks for these nourishing words 🙂 . . .
I love Frost. And that is the perfect poem for an almost-spring day.
cloudsome says:
This is such a lovely way to start my warm, rainy Saturday. I have daffodils coming up and rain drops shining everywhere. I wish you blessings and peace today; and a better week ahead!
Good message: pay attention to the moment at hand.
Although, I have to say, your “moments at hand” just recently seem to be ones to survive and move past! I hope seeing Frost on your school’s sign turned the tide for you. (And can I just say, WOW! Frost on the school’s sign! Ours never ventures past upcoming dates for PTO meetings and such. And it fronts a pretty busy road. Maybe we need to see about getting some poetry out there for the world to see!)
Mary Lee
A Year of Reading
TadMack says: 😉
Oh, that is indeed my prayer. Please, God: Spring. Soon. Now, if possible…
I love that your girls took your hands and tugged you into the school. “Okay… Mom’s gone weird again. Better find another adult…”
Happy Spring.
Obama’s Speech and Spring
Liz: I was journaling on my laptop about Barack Obama’s upcoming speech on race and then I read your post about Robert Frost’s “A Prayer in Spring.” Bear with me as I share some of my sentiments and how the poem expresses the “hope” Barack represents and that I pray for.
“I am a Jewish born, middle-aged, white woman and I am praying for Barack Obama. I am praying that his speech on race tomorrow moves this country forward to a place where we are allowed to criticize our country and love it at the same time; a place where we are allowed to celebrate our ethnicity, race and heritage and our Americanness at the same time; a place where we can get beyond our fear of the other and move toward the knowledge that each of us is other and that this is actually the bond that holds us together; a place where we are not who we associate with, so we can be individuals and associate with other people who are individuals as well; a place where everyone is permitted to express his or her ideas; a place where we can take what we like and leave the rest–which may come from Henry James or Bill W., but which regardless of its source, is a brilliant concept….
Our politics has become so muddied by Bill and Hill and all the media bunny hoppers. Could someone just clear the mud, clear the ground so we might notice that this country has always been a snowdrop or a crocus pushing its way against some very rough terrain.”
Of course, Frost put this so much better. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Barack could quote him tomorrow. How much more American can you get? Thank you for your posts. Amy