Sunday, September 28, 2014

Keats' Ode to Autumn - and Vicki's Ode to Applesauce


Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;


To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
  

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

13 comments:

Ms. A said...

Yum! Biscuits and applesauce sound mighty good!

Juliet said...

This poem is an old favourite, and you have illustrated it beautifully. Here we are dancing into spring.

Martin said...

Now I'm reminded of a story of a Sergeant Major whose duty it was to remind a bunch of new recruits about a talk being given for the benefit of their education. "You've got a nice man comin' to talk to you all about Keats, this evenin'! I suggest you all go along an' pin yer ears back. By the look of it, none of you know wot a Keat is!"

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Nice applesauce and I love how you've paired it with Keats.
Sam

Kath said...

Beautiful word pictures and perfect photos to go with them!

Barbara Rogers said...

Ah the poet has met the applesauce!

jennyfreckles said...

A favourite poem - and I can almost smell the tang of those apples. What a feast.

Brian Miller said...

ha. nice...and i bet your applesauce is really good...most home made things are...

NCmountainwoman said...

Loved it. Applesauce is really time-consuming, but so much better than store bought.

Suz said...

just wonderful

Frances said...

Vicki, this is a beautiful post, in which the photographs and words add to the joy this visitor found.

Thank you! xo

Thérèse said...

Illustrations and a poem which go directly to the heart.

Jime said...

Love the post. Keats helped turn the melancholy to joy of autumn or I would be thinking of "September Song" sung by Sarah Vaughan. Of course your pictures helped cheered me up