“And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!”
And after May..but I wish for a never after
holding fast as Faust to a month’s moments
when the lanes foam at the mouth with birdsong
frothing with petal and wild chervil
a volcanic eruption of aqua vitae comes
pouring into every pore of the earth
in a rush of landscaping that readily spreads
like the ingénue’s awkward blush
it is green loitering on the brink of solstice
not tenderfoot nor mature and motherly shade
but really there are no words this side of purple
or around the maypole tangles of hyperbole
call me wilfully melancholy if you will
but even when the budding month is set to swell
then bursts with a boisterous cannonade of may days
I flag the voyaging vessel with signals of distress
June comes now spring-heeled and hot on the scent
of an all too soon consumed summer but like Arachne
we must spin in synchrony with time and motion
or forfeit the chance of heaven
*prompted by Browning’s “Home-thoughts, from abroad”
and joining with other versifiers at Poetry Pantry
This dance between feelings and seasons echoes what stirs inside my own bones… the sense that today and tomorrow merge without truly telling us if what’s happening is a good things.
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I don’t know where the “s” in “things” came from. *sigh*
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oh if only we could edit our sp mistakes!
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hate to see the back of May but we must move with the times!
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“a boisterous cannonade of may days”…..ah to feel the power and beauty of the words!
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such a momentous month!
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I do agree, there is something so special about May, when June comes with it’s fulfillment, it’s like hope has shrunk to something less… wonderful sentiments
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spot on & succictly put – you understand this feeling too
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May is my month and I hate to see the back of it….I adore how you describe the change in the landscape with greens and florals spreading ‘like the ingénue’s awkward blush. But yes alas we must move on to June and summer! Always a pleasure spinning with your words Laura….
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Thank you Donna for spinning along (like Arachne) on our mutual love of May
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I love the landscaping spreading like a brush. This poem is a wonderful description of spring.
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Brush is as good as a blush – thank you Sherry
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June comes now spring-heeled and hot on the scent
of an all too soon consumed summer…
Such gorgeous lines 😀
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Glad you enjoyed Sanaa – thank you x
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I like foaming at the mouth with birdsong and June’s spring heels.
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thank you – I like the challenge of trying to pictorially visualise in words
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Oh, I absolutely love this! So deliciously Springy. (And I have great respect for the Weaver, Arachne.)
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oh yes Rosemary – she can weave a good tale herself!
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Great images.. love “lanes foam at the mouth with birdsong frothing with petal and wild chervil” !!
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thank you for your appreciation! that line is the epitome of picture of May in country lanes and why I love it so
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That bubbling water quenching the ground seems like a release in many ways – i can’t claim to understand all the literary references but you have brewed a fine mix of feeling, words and thoughts which is as ever very unique
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respect your honesty Jae Rose and I like your idea of May quenching the earth even though winter is a wet season
with your skills I’m surprised there is not more of the classics in your imaginative poetry – what would Alice think?
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I agree. There is sadness in the passing of May…which is such a refreshing and greening month. But then again there is the beauty that is June. I think we have to find the beauty in each month as they move on, but sigh…it IS hard to say good-bye to May nonetheless.
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can’t moan about June but sad to see the back of May Mary!
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Hyberbole, synchrony, cannonade—what a delight it is to see “big” words incorporated into a poem!
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ah I do love the sound of big words 😉
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