by Gerard Manley Hopkins Nothing is so beautiful as spring -When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrushThrough the echoing timber does rinse and wringThe ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;The glossy peartree leaves and blooms, they brushThe descending blue, that blue isContinue reading “Spring”
Category Archives: My blog
Hopalong rides again
Hopalong, one of our foxes, has been a worry for some time As I have mentioned, I first noticed his state at the beginning of November. He had always been a timid fox, peeping out from the undergrowth and checking if it was safe before emerging fully toi feed. It was November, however, that IContinue reading “Hopalong rides again”
Old Botany Bay
by Dame Mary Gilmore I am he, who paved the way,that you might walkat your ease today;I was the conscriptsent to hellto make in the desertthe living well;I bore the heat,I blazed the track -furrowed and bloodyupon my back.I split the rock;I felled the tree:The nation was -Because of me!Old Botany BayTaking the sunfrom dayContinue reading “Old Botany Bay”
Up the River Side
by Frank Foy A sabbath hush pervades the summer day,As seated here beside the shining sands,I gaze on once again the arid lands,That weed-besprinkled westward stretch away;The waves that wash the beach about me laySmooth mirrors in their track, and vast expandsThe stream’s majestic breast, to where upstandsFair Venice in her groves beside her bay.AndContinue reading “Up the River Side”
New Year resolutions? Not for me
Twelfth Night already and I can’t figure out where the first five days of this New Year have gone. I didn’t set any New Year resolutions this year, even though in the past I used to, even if it was only two or three. You know the sort: I promise to lose at least twoContinue reading “New Year resolutions? Not for me”
Two Lovers
Two lovers by a moss-grown spring:They leaned soft cheeks together there,Mingled the dark and sunny hair,And heard the wooing thrushes sing.O budding time!O love’s blest prime!Two wedded from the portal stept:The bells made happy carolings,The air was soft as fanning wings,White petals on the pathway slept.O pure-eyed bride!O tender pride!Two faces o’er a cradle bent:TwoContinue reading “Two Lovers”
The Pig
by Roald Dahl In England once there lived a bigAnd wonderfully clever pig.To everybody it was plainThat Piggy had a massive brain.He worked out sums inside his head,There was no book he hadn’t read.He knew what made an airplane fly,He knew how engines worked, and why.He knew all this, but in the endOne question droveContinue reading “The Pig”
The Blind Boy
by Colley Cibber O say what is that thing called light,Which I can ne’er enjoy?What is the blessing of the sight?O tell your poor blind boy!You talk of wond’rous things you see.You say the sun shines bright!I feel him warm, but how can heThen make it day or night?My day or night myself I makeWhene’erContinue reading “The Blind Boy”
Poor old Hopalong has to get round on three legs but his tail’s fine
While our hedgehogs have been hibernating, hopefully among the woodpiles scattered round the garden (remnants of the vicious hedging which used to run along one edge), I have been concentrating more on our foxes and one in particular has been causing me worries. I noticed him at the beginning of November a ragged-tailed fox who seemedContinue reading “Poor old Hopalong has to get round on three legs but his tail’s fine”
Epitaph on the Tomb of a Child
by Aphra Behn This Little, Silent, Gloomy, Monument,Contains all that was sweet and innocent;The softest pratler that e’er found a Tongue,His Voice was Musick and his Words a Song;Which now each Listn’ng Angel smiling hears,Such pretty Harmonies compose the Spheres;Wanton as unfledg’d Cupids, ere their CharmsHas learn’d the little arts of doing harms;Fair as youngContinue reading “Epitaph on the Tomb of a Child”
Robin's Nest 