Lazy Hazy Days

Photos by Jay Beets
End of July & Beginning of August

Ah, yes, "the winds must come" --
a poem for the passing summer days . . .

If I Could Tell You

Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973)

Now & Then Post
Huckleberry Summertime

May the summer reverie
continue through August & September!

I hope you will enjoy the remains of summer
while I take a break from Quotidian Posts.
See you in the Fall -- sometime after Labor Day!

Before the trees change, I'll be back . . .

Thanks to my friend Jay Beets
for the heart-stopping seasonal photos,

and to my friend, author and artist Jan Donley
for reminding me that Auden's poem
is a villanelle -- not a pantoum.

You can check above
for these specific characteristics:

A villanelle = 19 lines
5 tercets (3-line stanzas) and a final quatrain (4-line stanza)

it uses two rhymes (A & B)
and two repeating lines:

the first line of the 1st stanza becomes
the last line of the 2nd and 4th stanzas;

the third line of the 1st stanza becomes
the last line of the 3rd and 5th stanzas.

These two repeated lines
form the final two lines of the concluding quatrain.