It is the time of year when the buds are just beginning to come out on the bare trees here in Michigan. One of my fondest college memories was when my English professor took a developing flower into class all week long and asked us to guess which flower it might be. None of us could get it right. At the end of the week he took us outside right about this time of year and had us look out over the woods and then recited this poem...
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.
- Robert Frost
The flowers he brought were simple maple blossoms. And the trees we looked at were golden, not green.
I think about that poem now every spring and appreciate the buds on the trees more than I ever did before.
Happy Spring!
Ordinary thoughts from an Ordinary Guy
4 comments:
Believe it or not, although I had not done so in a long time, I recited that poem to myself this morning - such a good one - and such a memorable experience that prof provided! How cool!
Cross-country telepathy is kind of cool, I think.
That is one of the poems I recite on Sundays for my microphone check. The other is "Success is Counted Sweetest" by...
:-)
No way! When I taught in Hickman and they taped the algebra courses, I recited poetry to check the mic and camera!
Sometimes David was in charge of set-up, and students got a kick out of me reciting Edna St. Vincent Millay's "The Philosopher" to him.
"And what are you that wanting you
I should be kept awake
As many nights as there are days
With weeping for your sake . . ."
etc.
Ending with:
"And who am I that I should love
So wisely and so well?"
There's just no beating my dear friend Emily, however!
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