Monday 20 May 2019

Consolation

Image result for blue sky with swallows
In memory of Paul, 4 years on x
Consolation - Robert Louis Stevenson
Though he, that ever kind and true,
Kept stoutly step by step with you,
Your whole long, gusty lifetime through,
Be gone a while before,
Be now a moment gone before,
Yet, doubt not, soon the seasons shall restore
Your friend to you.
He has but turned the corner — still
He pushes on with right good will,
Through mire and marsh, by heugh and hill,
That self-same arduous way —
That self-same upland, hopeful way,
That you and he through many a doubtful day
Attempted still.
He is not dead, this friend — not dead,
But in the path we mortals tread
Got some few, trifling steps ahead
And nearer to the end;
So that you too, once past the bend,
Shall meet again, as face to face, this friend
You fancy dead.
Push gaily on, strong heart! The while
You travel forward mile by mile,
He loiters with a backward smile
Till you can overtake,
And strains his eyes to search his wake,
Or whistling, as he sees you through the brake,
Waits on a stile.

Wednesday 1 May 2019

May

Image result for lilac blossoms May!
  In the open world
The sun comes and finds your face,       
  Remembering all.



Follies - Carl Sandburg

Shaken,
The blossoms of lilac,
  And shattered,
The atoms of purple.
Green dip the leaves,      
  Darker the bark,
Longer the shadows.

Sheer lines of poplar
Shimmer with masses of silver
And down in a garden old with years       
And broken walls of ruin and story,
Roses rise with red rain-memories.
      May!
  In the open world
The sun comes and finds your face,       
  Remembering all.