No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November!
'November' by Thomas Hood.
Typing that made me think how things have changed from the time the poem was written in the early 19th century. Since the Clean Air Acts in 1956 and 1968 we don't have the dense pea-souper fogs caused by open coal fires which were such killers, skies are clear and clean. Seasons are changing with flowers still in the gardens, including primroses, roses and Lychnis coronaria in mine. Still sunshine - I couldn't find a gloomy illustration for the poem - they're all lovely red and orange sunsets! No leaves - heavens! There are millions of them still on the trees in the lovely autumnal shades.And dozens of birds are in the garden.
But it's still November.
Never mind, there'll soon be snowdrops, crocuses, early daffs....
3 comments:
The starlings are performing their ritual flocking patterns here, I saw my first large flock today, it was stunning the way they wheeled and turned like a black cloud. Something to be said for November :D
Lovely to see that - I haven't spotted starlings doing that for six years or more - amazing how it's 'one turns, we all turn.'
the no bees bit is the only bit that makes me happy, no bees/wasps is the only thing i like about winter.. Except snow =D
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