Thursday, April 22, 2010

I wandered with the sneering crowd...or Welcome, sweet Springtime (part 3)


I cannot take credit for the following, but it made me laugh:

There once was a poet named Will
Who tramped his way over a hill
And was speechless for hours
Over some stupid flowers
This was years before TV, but still.


To redeem myself, here’s a better poem, plus some forsythia, a few dandelions for Putz, and a goldfinch thrown in for good measure.

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost


Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs 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.

(Photograph © by James G. Howes, 2003)




At the house where we lived from 1999 until 2003, goldfinches arrived in profusion. They loved the thistle seed we put out for them. But ever since we moved seven years ago from there to our current house, thirty miles to the north, I had not seen a single goldfinch until yesterday, when a pair of them visited our Leyland cypress trees.

This post is my way of saying “thank you” to them.

Spring, by the way, is also pink and purple:

Bougainvillea:
Azaleas:
Wood-violets:(Wood-violet photo by Maia C. on Flickr)

But if yellow is your thing, see the previous post for daffodils.

10 comments:

  1. those yellow things aren't dandylions are they????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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  2. Of course they are. Click on the word "dandelion" and you'll see.

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  3. So glad the goldfinches have found you, again. I've had hundreds of the sweetly chirping winged things over the last few weeks. I'm hard pressed to keep the thistle feeders filled.

    Nice post.

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  4. Great poems, great photos ... we too are enjoying the arrival of springtime over here in Catalonia.

    Have a great Saint Jordi's Day (as in Jordi/George, the dragon slayer, who happens to be Catalonia's patron saint)! Here it is celebrated with much book giving and poetry recitals and other literay activities.

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  5. If dandelions were rare, we'd be planting them in our gardens.

    Nice post.

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  6. If you're going to Canton Georgia
    Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

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  7. I think I like your Will version better than the original... LOL :)

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  8. Pat, so far I haven't seen any more goldfinches. I do like your latest post about hummingbirds.

    Brian, between cherry blossom time and St. Jordi's day, there seems to be a lot of poetry reciting going on in Catalonia!

    Sam, if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.

    YP, yes, so you'll blend in with all the ancient hippies and flower children.

    jinksy, I have no inkling what you mean. Is there a blue version?

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  9. Yes, when we're not watching football (i.e. soccer), poetry is one of our hobbies ;)

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  10. Wow, love the beautiful flower photos! I love bouganvillea but I can't grow it (because of the thorns and my innate clutziness) and I can't spell it (because it is hard) so I just look at other people's from a distance and admire it verbally, but I don't write about it. :) I love the opening poem, that's great!

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

We are bombarded daily by abbreviations in everyday life, abbreviations that are never explained, only assumed to be understood by everyone...