Celebrating May Day -- Coming up Next Tuesday!

Hello everyone:

May Day is this coming Tuesday! Jack Frost has gone North (at long last) for his annual summer vacation! :) We can enjoy flowers, birds, and trees as the springtime exuberantly celebrates this delightful holiday! Here are some poems to help you get started with your May Day celebrations.

“Song on May Morning” (1632)

By John Milton (1608-1674)

Now the bright Morning Star, Day’s harbinger,

Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her

The flowery May, who from her green lap throws

The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.

Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire

Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!

Woods and groves are of thy dressing;

Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.

Thus we salute thee with our early song,

And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

"To A Butterfly" (1801)

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! -- not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.

Stay near me -- do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!
Dead times revive in thee:
Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,
My father's family!

Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when, in our childish plays,
My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush
Upon the prey: -- with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;
But she, God love her, feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.

“The Flowers”

By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

From A Child's Garden of Verses (1885)

All the names I know from nurse:

Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,

Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,

And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, fairy things,

Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,

Tiny trees for tiny dames--

These must all be fairy names!

Tiny woods below whose boughs

Shady fairies weave a house;

Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,

Where the braver fairies climb!

Fair are grown-up people's trees,

But the fairest woods are these;

Where, if I were not so tall,

I should live for good and all.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rob :)

Adventures in April

Hello everyone –

Spring has evidently sprung here in East Central Illinois, and on the road up ahead we can hear the approaching hoof beats of Graduation, and after sunset, we can maybe catch a glimpse of the Evenstar (the planet Venus, known as Ëarendel in Old English and in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth legendarium). Here are two poems from 100 years ago, containing reflections about the human condition and the travels of a wandering luminary (the Evenstar).

“THE HIGHER LIFE” (1913)

By Madeline S. Brigham

There are royal hearts, there are spirits brave,

There are souls that are pure and true;

Then give to the world the best you have,

And the best will come to you.

Give love, and love to your life will flow,

And strength in your utmost needs;

Have faith, and a score of hearts will show

Their faith in your work and deeds.

Give truth, and your gift will be paid in kind,

And a song a song will meet;

And the smile which is sweet will surely find

A smile that is just as sweet.

Give pity and sorrow to those that mourn,

You will gather in flowers again

The scattered seeds from your thoughts outborne,

Though the sowing seemed in vain.

For life is the mirror of king and slave,

‘Tis just what we are and do;

Then give to the world the best you have,

And the best will come back to you.

“The Voyage of Ëarendel, the Evening Star” (1914)

By J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Ëarendel arose where the shadow flows

At Ocean’s silent brim;

Through the mouth of night as a ray of light

Where the shores are sheer and dim

He launched his bark like a silver spark

From the last and lonely sand;

Then on sunlit breath of the day’s fiery death

He sailed from Westerland.

He threaded his path o’er the aftermath

Of the splendor of the Sun,

And wandered far past many a star

In his gleaming galleon.

On the gathering tide of darkness ride

The argosies of the sky,

And spangle the night with their sails of light

As the streaming star goes by.

Unheeding he dips past these twinkling ships,

By his wayward spirit whirled

On an endless quest through the darkling West

O’er the margin of the world;

And he fares in haste o’er the jeweled waste

And the dusk from whence he came

With his heart afire with bright desire

And his face in silver flame.

The Ship of the Moon from the East comes soon

From the Haven of the Sun,

Whose white gates gleam in the coming beam

Of the mighty silver one.

Lo! with bellying clouds as his vessel’s shrouds

He weighs anchor down the dark,

And on shimmering oars leaves the blazing shores

In his argent-timbered bark.

Then Ëarendel fled from that Shipman dread

Beyond the dark earth’s pale,

Back under the rim of the Ocean dim,

And behind the world set sail;

And he heard the mirth of the folk of earth

And the falling of their tears,

As the world dropped back in a cloudy wrack

On its journey down the years.

Then he glimmering passed to the starless vast

As an isléd lamp at sea,

And beyond the ken of mortal men

Set his lonely errantry,

Tracking the Sun in his galleon

Through the pathless firmament,

Till his light grew old in abysses cold

And his eager flame was spent.

Happy Friday the 13^th! :)

Rob

Blue Moon in Springtime! :)

Hello everyone –

On Saturday, March 31^st, skywatchers around the world will be watching a celestial rarity – a full Blue Moon, the second Blue Moon of 2018! (The first one was on January 31^st.) It’s extremely rare for a calendar year to contain two Blue Moons; this last happened in 1999 and won’t occur again until 2037. And BTW, the next Blue Moon won’t happen until Halloween Night – October 31^st, 2020! (I predict that werewolf costumes will be very popular at that time!) :)

So just what is a Blue Moon? It’s the second Full Moon in a calendar month – a phenomenon that happens only once every 2-1/2 years or so (hence the expression, “Once in a Blue Moon”). The Moon won’t actually appear blue in the sky this weekend – but that’s OK – it will still be bright and beautiful, like every other Full Moon that I’ve ever seen.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion, and the arrival of the springtime (at long last!), here are three poems by Evaleen Stein (1863-1923), my favorite Midwestern poet!

“Faeries”

By Evaleen Stein
 

Grandfather says that sometimes,
When stars are twinkling and
A New Moon shines, there come times
When folks see faery-land!

So when there’s next a New Moon,
I mean to watch all night!
Grandfather says a Blue Moon
Is best for faery light,

And in a peach-bloom, maybe,
If I look I shall see
A little faery baby
No bigger than a bee!

“Budding-Time Too Brief”

By Evaleen Stein

O little buds, break not so fast!

  The spring’s but new.

  The skies will yet be brighter blue,

  And sunny too.

I would you might thus sweetly last       

Till this glad season’s overpast,

  Nor hasten through.

It is so exquisite to feel

  The light warm sun;

  To merely know the winter done,       

  And life begun;

And to my heart no blooms appeal

For tenderness so deep and real,

  As any one

Of these first April buds, that hold       

  The hint of spring’s

  Rare perfectness that May-time brings.

  So take not wings!

Oh, linger, linger, nor unfold

Too swiftly though the mellow mould,       

  Sweet growing things!

And errant birds, and honey-bees,

  Seek not to wile;

  And, Sun, let not your warmest smile

  Quite yet beguile     

The young peach-boughs and apple-trees

To trust their beauty to the breeze;

  Wait yet awhile!

“Up, Little Ones!”

by Evaleen Stein

A robin redbreast, fluting there
Upon the apple-bough,
Is telling all the world how fair
Are apple-blossoms now;
The honey-dew its sweetness spills
From cuckoo-cups, and all
The crocuses and daffodils
Are drest for festival!

Such pretty things are to be seen,
Such pleasant things to do,
The April earth it is so green,
The April sky so blue,
The path from dawn to even-song
So joyous is to-day,
Up, little ones! and dance along
The lilac-scented way!

Happy springtime holidays! :)

Rob

In Memoriam: Professor Stephen Hawking

Hello everyone –

I had initially been planning to share some poetry about the REAL St. Patrick’s Day (tomorrow) and the arrival of springtime next Tuesday, March 20^th. However, Wednesday’s announcement of Professor Stephen Hawking’s death has inspired me to collect a garland of poems to honor him and his inspirational legacy to humankind.

“INVICTUS” (1875)

By William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

“Crossing the Bar” (1889)

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1807-1892)

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crossed the bar.

Tennyson remarked about this poem: “The Pilot has been on board all the while, but in the dark I have not seen him… [He is] that Divine and Unseen Who is always guiding us.”

“Bilbo's Last Song (At the Gray Havens)”

By J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Day is ended, dim my eyes,

but journey long before me lies.

Farewell, friends! I hear the call.

The ship's beside the stony wall.

Foam is white and waves are gray;

beyond the sunset leads my way.

Foam is salt, the wind is free;

I hear the rising of the Sea.

Farewell, friends! The sails are set,

the wind is east, the moorings fret.

Shadows long before me lie,

beneath the ever-bending sky,

but islands lie behind the Sun

that I shall raise ere all is done;

lands there are to west of West,

where night is quiet and sleep is rest.

Guided by the Lonely Star,

beyond the utmost harbor-bar,

I'll find the havens fair and free,

and beaches of the Starlit Sea.

Ship, my ship! I seek the West,

and fields and mountains ever blest.

Farewell to Middle-earth at last.

I see the Star above my mast!

Requiescat in pace, Professor. Ad astra per aspera!

Until next time –

Rob