Saturday, April 25, 2009

Summertime?

"For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it and from it?
Thou, Soul, unloosen’d—the restlessness after I know not what;
Come! let us lag here no longer—let us be up and away!
O for another world! O if one could but fly like a bird!
O to escape—to sail forth, as in a ship!"

-Whitman, "Warble for Lilac-Time"

Since this blog has been on a bit of a Whitman kick lately, I figured I'd keep it up. This isn't one of Whitman's best poems, but it certainly captures the joy that comes with spring's arrival (for me at least), including the urge to take off and do something fun. And yet, I don't like the slippage from spring to summer that comes in that first quoted line. There ought to be a clear break between the two seasons--and summer should take its time coming, thank you very much.

Today, though, if I ignore certain sure-tell signs of spring (stacks of papers waiting to be graded, for instance), it sure does feel like a summer day, especially since I am watching the Yankees play the Red Sox on TV and Bing and Wesley are in their standard summer day poses (stretched out, quiet, sleeping).

And oh yeah--there's this: it's currently 92 degrees outside. I don't like this at all. What happened to the 70s?

2 comments:

AMT said...

We were totally psyched because it got up to almost 80 here today! Then we had this terrible wind and rain storm this afternoon that blew our neighbor's gazebo over into another neighbor's yard. It was crazy. It is supposed to be back to highs in the 50s in a few days, but we are okay with it, as long as it is not snowing!!

Kate said...

I'm with you, Heidi. I don't much like 90 degrees in August, but I can at least understand it. 90 in April? Ugh!