Friday, May 10, 2013

The English Mist

Grim & Gram's Back Garden

Oh to be in England
Now that April's there . . .
And after April, when May follows . . .

~ Robert Browning ~

One of my goals over the next few years is to visit England in all the months I've never been there. Due to school / vacation / holiday schedules, most of our trips have occurred around the same times of year. I've been there many times in July, August . . . December, January, February, March. But never in April, May, June . . . September, October, or November.

We are here this week for an early celebration of my mother - in - law Rosanne's 80th birthday (29 May) and planning to come again in October. Which means, in 2013, I get to add two new months to my list! It's just a little game, something fun to keep track of, kind of like trying to visit all 50 States (37 down; 13 to go).

It's usually so warm and sunny when I go to England -- even in December and March -- that I had begun to disbelieve all of the old cliches about "rainy skies and gales." Surprise! This May visit has been one of our chilliest, rainiest times ever. But lovely, even so.

The Windswept Promenade at Blackpool

Remember this song? Back in junior high, it went along with all of the Gothic romances -- always set in England -- that I loved reading every summer.

The Last Farewell

There's a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor
Tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of endless sunshine
To my land full of rainy skies and gales
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow
Though my heart is full of tears at this farewell

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing
And the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising
Their guns on fire as we sail into hell
I have no fear of death, it brings no sorrow
But how bitter will be this last farewell

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

Though death and darkness gather all about me
My ship be torn apart upon the seas
I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands
And the heaving waves that brought me once to thee
And should I return home safe again to England
I shall watch the English mist roll through the dale

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell


Words & music by Roger Whittaker & R. A. Webster, 1971

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