I don't what it is about gardeners and poetry. There seems to be some sort of natural attraction. When I first started my blog, I was enchanted by the idea of Musings, and Muse Days, and all the other diverse versification that goes on in the gardening blogosphere. Some people (yes, I mean you, Benjamin) don't need to wait for a special day but post poems on a regular basis. Fantastic poems, too. I love it: it's like someone passing an unexpected box of chocolates around the office. However, it also makes me ashamed because I read so little poetry, especially by new poets. This month I've chosen an old favourite. It's not a particularly original choice, but it always makes me smile. If you want to see what other people have chosen, hop on over to Sweet Home and Garden Chicago, where Carolyn has details of all the other GBMD participants.
Laughing song
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, ha he!"
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, ha, he!"
From Songs of Innocence by William Blake
15 comments:
Love Blake, my favourite is the Clod and Pebble, or perhaps the Poison Tree, and the Rose a close second.
Need a laugh, my computer has decided to take a holiday taking all my photos with it! Storm last night maybe. I shall try fixing it later, but its been a bit of a morning so far! Your garden is looking wonderful. I particularly like the middle of the three; all those different leaf shapes and textures, simply sublime.
Best Wishes,
Zoë
Lovely poem and beautiful photos to accompany them...your gardens are wonderful.
What a perfect summertime poem! It has me smilin'.
Lovely, Victoria.
I could do with that very large pot too :)
Funny this . . . but there is rarely a day goes by that I don't read poetry . . . but I never link it with gardens and tend to skim the ones on 'Muse Day' blogs.
In part, I think, this is a physical thing about needing the book in my hand - it just isn't the same on screen . . . but it's also because I experience poetry as dynamic whereas gardens, though for ever changing, are, for me, essentially places of stillness.
So - I've read the Blake poem - more or less out of duty - but feasted on the photos of your garden and walked into the coolness of the green - and tried to suppress a horrid sick feeling of jealousy because they show just what I would like my garden to be like.
Lucy
Zoe, I don't think this is one of Blake's best poems. But I love the idea of woods laughing.
Nancy and Cindy, I'm glad you liked the pictures!
VP, the very large pot is from Evergreen Exteriors, who operate from Banstead and Covent Garden Flower Market.
Lucy, I know exactly what you mean about a book. The thing that fascinates me about poetry that deals with gardens, especially when it comes to writers like DHLawrence and Thomas Hardy, and more modern poets like ee cummings or Ted Hughes, is that it seems to bring out a softer, less misanthropic side to them.
Gardens looking good - all ready for the big day?
That is exactly what I meant by POETS day! LOL
Hope you are home by now, I dont miss the long days when I worked in Town and someone else seemed to own your soul!
Thanks so much for that lovely musing Victoria. Your garden is also very lovely.
This just placed us in such a great mood. I shared this with others at work yesterday and we all loved it. Great images of your garden.
Now - it takes a fool not to get more misantropic as we grow older. I wish I could laugh innocently again, instead my humor has become both a defense and a valued character trait. Because without the laughs life would be a lot more boring.
It's wonderful to feel the laughter in nature & the garden, but sometimes I feel like nature is laughing at me. Especially the squirrels, I swear I can hear them snickering when I go out into the garden. I'm all in favor of changing the name of Muse Day to POETS, but then we'd have to do it only on a Friday.
Oh, your garden is luscious.
Can't go wrong with Blake. Poetry and gardens are like milk and cookies. But, I'm also a poet, so I pop stuff up on the blog whenever I come across it. Want a new poet to read? You could buy my small book... ahem.... Have you Read Stanley Kunitz's book on his gardens? He was a poet, but I forget the book's name. I blogged about it a few weeks / months ago.
Wow. Your garden pictures are amazing. Beautiful stuff you have.
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