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| Orchid, Botanical Gardens, Washington, D.C. 2012 |
I woke up this morning to Sophie's humming in her room, but after a week away it didn't make me sigh. I smiled instead and got up. The sun is shining and the sky is blue, as usual, and I'm grateful to be living in Southern California. It's National Poetry Month for all you poetry lovers, and like I do every year at this time, I'm posting the contrary spring poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Some of us get the Christmas blues with all the expectations of joy and happiness. I don't. To tell you the truth, I get the spring blues, and this poem makes me smile, warding off the April is the cruelest month:
SPRING
by: Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
O what purpose, April, do you return again?
- Beauty is not enough.
- You can no longer quiet me with the redness
- Of little leaves opening stickily.
- I know what I know.
- The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
- The spikes of the crocus.
- The smell of the earth is good.
- It is apparent that there is no death.
- But what does that signify?
- Not only under ground are the brains of men
- Eaten by maggots.
- Life in itself
- Is nothing,
- An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
- It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
- April
- Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
You just made me really glad I get the Christmas blues but that spring leaves me okay.
ReplyDeleteI love it! There are some things that even Spring can't soothe.
ReplyDeleteIs it odd that I don't remember this poem at all? Its tone is different from what I feel in spring, but that's what makes it so interesting. Here, where the rain falls more than it doesn't, any patch of blue sky, any hint of floral or leafy color springing forth is a sign of hope, of freer activities, of more enjoyable time outdoors. Spring doesn't change our circumstances, but it can certainly change the venue a bit! Thank you for giving me a chance to think about that, and for the gorgeous fower photo you posted.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that your week away refreshed your point of view, even on Sophie's humming. You deserve rest and respite.
...and thank you again for posting my ad on your sidebar. It is so very generous of you to do it.
welcome home!
ReplyDeleteThe rhythm of home upon your return. Refreshed I hope.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that the flower photo you posted was beautiful. I don't know what they are but they seem like an orchid though I hadn't seen one in that color.
I get the same way...all Christmas I'm fine. All winter, actually.
ReplyDeleteI do love that poem.
i don't think i get the spring blues, but i HAVE felt this way, and so this poem makes me chuckle. i have a weird sense of humor. and WHAT, may i ask, is that fabulous, otherworldly, flower?
ReplyDeletep.s. you're right. a hippie christian community deserves its own post ;)
I was so relieved when I found out that there are others who find Spring...depressing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the poem!
-Julia O'C
I've always enjoyed that poem! Spring arrived in the midwest very early. The grass has already required two mowings. The trees are blooming and leafing out. The bulbs are pretty much finished. The best part--throwing open the windows and letting winter out.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
P.S. My grandmother always said that "Home again, home again" thing.
ReplyDeleteApril
ReplyDeleteComes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
Those lines made me laugh.
Okay, I just came back to read the poem to my daughter, and realized that you had a caption under the "orchid." Duh. It's still one of the most beautiful orchids I've ever seen...
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I'm glad you were away and glad you're back. More glad you're refreshed and happy. That's what spring means to me.
ReplyDeleteSuch a fabulous poem. One to commit to memory, I think.
ReplyDeleteLove the poem! You are broadening my horizons--which is a good thing. I feel smarter and more literary when I read your blog. :-)
ReplyDeleteCarrie T.
I get spring wistful. Ms. St. Vincent Milay suits me just fine.
ReplyDeleteI feel blue today, but usually spring in general lifts me. I appreciate your light um up Easter Eggs and wondered if it is a problem if I use them as a profile picture on my facebook. May I? I decided I'd best ask. I have three in my immediate home in spectrum. My husband an Aspie like in denial and two youth, 12 year old girl and 14 year old boy. My eldest is neuro-typical. We all have some ADD or (H)D
ReplyDeletechocoholic: I'm not sure what Easter Eggs you're referring to that you want to use on your Facebook page. Thanks for clarifying!
ReplyDeleteAh, there is no place like home, be it physical or emotional, is there?
ReplyDeleteI am always glad to come home, much more so than I remember when I was younger.
Thank you! I loathe April.
ReplyDeleteHate, hate, hate April.
This was perfect.
This post, this poem reminded me of the song "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most". I couldn't find the version that was/is playing in my head, but this one by Rickie Lee Jones has the right feel of melancholy.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got some time away with the boys. x0 N2
Here's the link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud177vP8rf8
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful orchids.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of the poem, even though I feel the same way sometimes, that there is no point to life, that it just keeps going.
I LOVE Edna St Vincent Millay!! So lovely...
ReplyDeleteWow. That is truly terrific.
ReplyDelete