The ship that took my mother to Ellis Island
Eighty-three years ago was named "The Mercy."
She remembers trying to eat a banana
without first peeling it and seeing her first orange
in the hands of a young Scot, a seaman
who gave her a bite and wiped her mouth for her
with a red bandana and taught her the word,
"orange," saying it patiently over and over. Read more about The Mercy
Song Of Aragorn
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
J.R.R. Tolkien Read more about A Little Gold for August
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever. Read more about The Brook
I had forgotten or perhaps had never noticed that this is an April poem. I've always liked it, though.
anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did.
Women and men (both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain Read more about Earth by April
The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
Read more about December Story>December.
Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
October Weather
by Mabel Douglas Essay
(October weather is unusually warm in southern Wisconsin this year. This is more a wish than an observation.)
Read more about October Weather>There's a certain eerie sadness
Tempered with exultant gladness
In October weather.Vanished is June's fertile sweetness,
July's mellow rare completeness;
August fleeing with September
Leaves a beauty earth remembers
In October weather.