Thursday 16 April 2015

Poem for the day, Spring time



It really is Spring, it had burst forth with a passion that holds all the promise of the wonderful glorious days in store for us.
Spring leading the way to Summer forging a flower strewn path alive with the buzzing and humming of insects, delicate warm scents and a gentle fluttery breeze that lifts the corners of  the dull blanket that is covering all your cares and sweeps them away.
Spring is in the air. Love is in the air. Hope is in the air. Begone dull care.
The bright cheerful days full of sunshine fills hearts with gladness and vitality.

So with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny ho here is my poem for the day by Ben Jonson (1572 -1637).

Ben Jonson was a friend of Shakespeare's and wrote many plays and poems. His work has not carried the test of time as Shakespeare's has, and one of the theories behind this lack of timeless popularity is that his characters lacked kindness. There is not one character in the whole of Jonson's work that is remembered with affection. Cleverness is not enough, we all need kindness.
 However this poem by Ben Jonson has been set to music and my mother used to sing it to me and it seems appropriate for a lovely sunny spring day when our thoughts turn to loving and kissing. I hope you like it.

To Celia


Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine,
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I'll not look for wine,
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honouring thee,
As giving it a hope that there
It could not wither'd be,
But thou thereon didst only breathe
And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself but thee!

Ben Jonson





It's always a joy to wake up on a morning in Spring

We're all like the bees looking for something nice in a flower

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