Spring

"The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings."
-  Joyce Kilmer, Spring

Lines Written in Early Spring by William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:—

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man.

 https://interestingliterature.com/2017/03/02/a-short-analysis-of-william-wordsworths-lines-written-in-early-spring/

early autumn at the river

Morning by Sara Teasdale

 

I went out on an April morning
All alone, for my heart was high,
I was a child of the shining meadow,
I was a sister of the sky.

There in the windy flood of morning
Longing lifted its weight from me,
Lost as a sob in the midst of cheering,
Swept as a sea-bird out to sea. 

Spring Quiet - Poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Gone were but the Winter,
Come were but the Spring,
I would go to a covert
Where the birds sing;

Where in the whitethorn
Singeth a thrush,
And a robin sings
In the holly-bush.

Full of fresh scents
Are the budding boughs
Arching high over
A cool green house:

Full of sweet scents,
And whispering air
Which sayeth softly:
"We spread no snare;

"Here dwell in safety,
Here dwell alone,
With a clear stream
And a mossy stone.

"Here the sun shineth
Most shadily;
Here is heard an echo
Of the far sea,
Though far off it be."

 

End of Summer 

By Stanley Kunitz

An agitation of the air,

A perturbation of the light

Admonished me the unloved year

Would turn on its hinge that night.

 

I stood in the disenchanted field

Amid the stubble and the stones,

Amazed, while a small worm lisped to me

The song of my marrow-bones.

 

Blue poured into summer blue,

A hawk broke from his cloudless tower,

The roof of the silo blazed, and I knew

That part of my life was over.

 

Already the iron door of the north

Clangs open: birds, leaves, snows

Order their populations forth,

And a cruel wind blows.

 

 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

 

"I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.
There was no other creature
That saw what I could see--
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me."
-  Sara Teasdale, February Twilight

the first stirrings of Spring...

"Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly--and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing."
-  Omar Khayyám   

Brigid

Whatever about that, for many centuries they observed four focal points in the pastoral year, each roughly equidistant from a solstice and an equinox, Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasa and Samhain. The latter three are remembered in the Irish names for May, August and November but Imbolc, the celebration of ewes giving birth and feeding their lambs was christianised as Lá Fhéile Brigide, the feast day of Brigid on February 1st.

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/an-irishman-s-diary-on-st-brigid-1.2080162

The Human Seasons

FOUR Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring’s honey’d cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness - to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature. 

John Keats

When I have fears

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact’ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love! - then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink. 

John Keats

Prais'd be Diana's Fair and Harmless Light

1 Prais'd be Diana's fair and harmless light;
2 Prais'd be the dews wherewith she moists the ground;
3 Prais'd be her beams, the glory of the night;
4 Prais'd be her power by which all powers abound.
5 Prais'd be her nymphs with whom she decks the woods,
6 Prais'd be her knights in whom true honour lives;
7 Prais'd be that force by which she moves the floods;
8 Let that Diana shine which all these gives.
9 In heaven queen she is among the spheres;
10 In aye she mistress-like makes all things pure;
11 Eternity in her oft change she bears;
12 She beauty is; by her the fair endure.
13 Time wears her not: she doth his chariot guide;
14 Mortality below her orb is plac'd;
15 By her the virtue of the stars down slide;
16 In her is virtue's perfect image cast.
17 A knowledge pure it is her worth to know:
18 With Circes let them dwell that think not so.

Sir Walter Ralegh

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. 

William Butler Yeats

Goddess Brigid

I ask for the light of your flame
To enable me to see clearly,
To illuminate the darkness,
To show me the shadows
Cast by my own light.

To the Celts, all deer were especially symbolic of nurturing, gentle and loving femaleness. White deer hide was used to make tribal women's clothing. White deer called "faery cattle" were commonly believed to offer milk to fairies. In Britain amongst the Druids, some men experienced life-transforming epiphanies from spiritual visions or visitations by white hinds, balancing and healing their inner feminine energy. In Europe white hinds truly exist, and are many shades of warm white cream-colors, with pale lashes--otherworldly in their peaceful and modest behavior. To many Native American tribes, deer are models of the graceful and patient mother who exhibits unconditional love and healthy, integrated female energy.

http://passepartout.olivianita.com/photography-2/the-way-of-the-reindeer-photos-of-the-mongolian-dukha-people 

 http://www.earthwitchery.com/santa.html

Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space.

It does not seek anything in return;
it asks not whether you are friend or foe.

It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished.

~Michael Strassfeld

Blessings to all in this season of Light.
May all be warm, protected, and loved.

Santa Lucia

 Now 'neath the silver moon Ocean is glowing,
O'er the calm billows, soft winds are blowing.
Here balmy breezes blow, pure joys invite us,
And as we gently row, all things delight us.

Hark, how the sailor's cry joyously echoes nigh:
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!
Home of fair Poesy, realm of pure harmony,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia! When o'er the waters light winds are playing,
Thy spell can soothe us, all care allaying.
To thee sweet Napoli, what charms are given,
Where smiles creation, toil blest by heaven.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy%27s_Day#In_the_Nordic_countries

Winter is the slow-down
Winter is the search for self
Winter gives the silence you need to listen
Winter goes gray so you can see your own colors...
 

~Terri Guillemets

The World Is Too Much with Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. --Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn. 

William Wordsworth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Is_Too_Much_with_Us

From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things,

and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

carry water...

Pure water is the world’s first

and foremost medicine.

~Slovakian proverb

People love chopping wood. 

In this activity one immediately sees results.

~Albert Einstein

How important it is for us to recognize

and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! 

~Maya Angelou

answer me with silence...

When my search is fruitless

And my spirit pines for rest

Setting sun a frozen field

Answer me with silence

Fill with light my longing soul

As the chill of winter grows

Tell me what the wide moors know

Answer me with silence

Say not your thoughts

Say nothing at all

You, my love, you know me well

Touch me where my true heart dwells

Where there are no words to say

Answer me with silence

When my search is fruitless

And my spirit pines for rest

All things I hold dearest

Answer me with silence

(Laura Powers/Dwight Liles)

http://laurapowers.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-pale-legends-of-the-goddess-ii

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me

Loreena McKennitt

Dante's Prayer

http://loreenamckennitt.com/album/book-secrets/

 

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.
~Author unknown

Oh, hazy month of glowing trees,—
And colors rich to charm our eyes!
Yet—not less fair than all of these
Are Mother's fragrant pumpkin pies!
~Louise Bennett Weaver

I am struck by the simplicity of light in the atmosphere in the autumn, 

 as if the earth absorbed none, and out of this profusion

of dazzling light came the autumnal tints.

 

~Henry David Thoreau, Oct. 12, 1852

But in October what a feast to the eye our woods and groves present!

The whole body of the air seems enriched by their calm, slow radiance.

They are giving back the light they have been absorbing
from the sun all summer. 

~John Burroughs (1837–1921)

Autumn Fires

by  Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens
  And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
  See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
  And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
  The gray smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
  Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
  Fires in the fall!

 "Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow." 
-  Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 

"Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone."

-  Thomas Moore, The Last Rose of Summer, 1830







Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
John William Waterhouse

"I trust in Nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility.  

Spring shall plant and Autumn garner to the ends of time."

-  Robert Browning

"Long about knee-deep in June,
'Bout the time strewberries melts
On the vine."
-  James Witcomb Riley

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light.

In summer quite the other way

I have to go to bed by day.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Oberon

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow."
-  Helen Keller 



the first harvest...

 

"Blessed be the Harvest,
Blessed be the Corn Mother,
Blessed be the Grain God,
For together they nourish both body and soul.
Many blessings I have been given,
I count them now by this bread.
Guardian of the East, I pray for your indulgence.
Hear me now as I request your aid in the cycle of life.
As your winds blow through fields of ripened grain,
Carry loosened seeds upon your back
That they may fall amidst the soil
That is our Mother Earth."

 

 

  

     http://www.gardendigest.com/monaug.htm

Tunnel