Threescore and Ten Again*

Magnolia Blossoms & Panama Bag in Washington, DC,
Spring Break 2004
Thanks to my friend Elizabeth who shared with me her file of musical settings for a variety of poems, primarily 19th and 20th Century, and primarily about trees (e.g., "The Three Trees") -- a musical and literary theme so perfect for April, with all the flowering trees bursting forth, and Earth Day and Arbor Day soon approaching.

I particularly enjoyed selections by Emily Dickinson / Aaron Copeland, Robert Frost / Randall Thompson, and "Loveliest of Trees" by A. E. Houseman / John Duke.

More good news about this poem -- you can find these blossoms not only on the "woodland ride" but also along the city streets; not only when twenty years won't come again and you're left with a mere fifty or so springs, but also when the numbers are reversed. So, don't despair! The above photo, for example, was taken twelve springs ago! So many blooms we've seen since then!

Even if "of your threescore years and ten, fifty (or sixty!) will not come again," that still leaves you with ten or twenty springs (if you're lucky -- even more if you're luckier!) to go about the woodlands or the urban gardens and "see the cherry hung with snow."

In our case, that "snow" could be a metaphor for cherry blossoms, or it could be the real thing -- yes, even in April (right, Cate?!). Either way, get out and enjoy that walk . . . time's a - wastin'!

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

A. E. Houseman (1859 - 1936)

Climbing the "Snowy" Hills of Seattle

* See also last week's post:
Threescore and Ten
"The days of our years are threescore years and ten;
and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,
yet is their strength labour and sorrow;
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."
~ Psalm 90:10 (KJV) ~

Reality Check: "ALL of us will still die."

Dream Road

Corner of Hickory Avenue & Baxter Street Road ~
Neosho, Missouri
Photographed by Rebecca Sprigg ~
my childhood friend and neighbor
Poem #XL.
from A Shropshire Lad

Into my heart on air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.

A. E. Houseman (1859 - 1936)

P. S. Adding a bit of humor to Houseman's sad, serious poem:

When pulling this post together, I was struggling to move Becky's Neosho photo from my desktop to my Kodak file, though I knew I had executed the exact same maneuver only recently. Now what step in the process was I forgetting? When I succeeded at last and was able to add the "cartoon fun effect," I forwarded the result to my husband Gerry, along with the Houseman poem.

He wrote back right away: "Now is the poem describing your feelings at getting the picture to work?"

And I replied: "Well, I was going for the "Dream Road" effect, but I guess it works either way! However, it turned out to be so easy, it was more like the land of "found content" ~ now if only I can remember next time, instead of having to re-invent the wheel!"

Thus Gerry was inspired to compose:

Into my heart on air that kills
From yon far desktop blows:
What are those blue remembered files,
What pics, what clicks are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy file structures where I went
And cannot come again.

W. G. McCartney

Thanks Ger!

***********

P. P. S. On the serious side:
Recent Fortnightly post
on A. E. Houseman:
"Daffodils of Autumn"

And here we have . . .
Another Dream Road, Another Story, Another Time