From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him,
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odor and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew.
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him,
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odor and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew.
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.
Hopefully a little William Shakespeare will inspire Spring to stay? Images from the stunning instagram of Botanicaetcetera.
Have a Happy Monday and good week all.
So pretty. Over in these parts, Spring is lifting her skirts so that we can get a tantalizing peek at her shapely legs. Then we get the rain, and the skirt comes down for a couple of hours. As you can see, I don't wax poetic very well unless it is a limerick or song parody.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the dandelions are in bloom again on what passes as my lawn. I know they're supposed to be weeds but they cheer me with all of their sunshiny yellowness.
It's in the 30s outside. I think the Globe Theater must be closed for renovations.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, maddie, I can assure you my post scheduled for tomorrow is just a coincidence.
Well dear great minds think alike!
DeleteI will think of these pictures as we wrap up and head into the wind. Have a good week! xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteif all that rain we had yesterday/this morning had been snow...we would have had a SNOW DAY!
ReplyDeleteOooooh. Pretty pretty colours! :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously though.... not one picture of a nude guy holding a bouquet?
Sooo-etc, even the mistress needs an occasional breather I would think. By the by, you spelled colors wrong. :)
DeleteDeedles, I didn't spell colours wrong, I'm Canadian we spell it the same way they do in England, you know... the country that invented the language. Lol
DeleteDon't worry about the Mistress, he knows I'm pulling his leg, he asked me to marry him (lol) I have it in writing! ;)
Sooo-etc. I know, I was just doing a little leg pulling myself with the spelling thing. It's so veddy, veddy, hard to put tongue-in-cheek in writing!
DeleteDeedles, lol I have become so used to being told I am misspelling words I didn't notice the leg pulling until I fell down!
DeleteAwww, you have puppies in the tub! So cute! :)
Just watch what leg she is pulling!!!!!I can't have a future husband being mis-handled!
DeleteMaddie, mind your own frickin' business! I'll pull whatever leg I want. Now if I can just get these damn hands to close!
DeleteLovely poem. Stunning flowers. It's been surprisingly chilly here the past few weekends. Usually, we start to experience the stifling humidity starting to smother us right about this time. Even the plants are confused. Two months ago, it was warm enough for the trees to release pollen that dusts our cars yellow. New leaves and buds have started growing but they seem stunted by the flip flopping weather.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that little sonnet is about.. cheating around because April made it okay... and besides, no matter what he did, he was always thinking of... you, and his dalliances were but shadows to him... right. You got to love Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteSince you have linked that instagram last time, I have been hooked on it since. The pictures of the florals are amazing.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday!!!!
From the Interesting Literature site:
ReplyDelete"One of the sonnets addressed to the ‘Fair Youth’, this poem sees Shakespeare bemoaning the fact that he could not appreciate all the beauty of Spring around him because he was absent from the young man."
Awwww, bless. "Spring" and "fair youth" - these are a few of my favourite things... Jx
True...throw in some gin and it's even better.
DeleteI haven't read a Shakespeare sonnet since I was in college. That was lovely. And the flowers are gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteWe had snow flurries today and the daytime "high" was 30 degrees.
A sonnet!!!!! We are willing spring to arrive! That is one addictive instagram
ReplyDeleteCan't let this go without comment for, as many know (and most likely will yawn when I say it yet again) I've learnt all of Billy Waggledaggle's Sonnets off by heart - yes ALL 154 of them - revising one every single morning to make sure that each is still in my memory banks - along with reading the rest of my poetry and other daily extracts. I see that this #98 I last revised last August and will come up again for re-polishing in just 8 days time on my variable number method of selection.
ReplyDeleteThis one is definitely one of his superior creations in the field. It's also an example of the enormous variety of conceits which the author plays on to represent the sometimes separation of himself and the admired youth he has such a crush on - and it only underlies the shame where the accent in the Sonnets is so often put on the short sequence of the mysterious 'dark lady' Sonnets rather than those to the young man where so many more of the poems were addressed, the latter having often been considered as unseemly for 'polite' company, despite a greater number of them being evidence of true genius.
Thanks for making this a subject for your blog. I think it must be the first time I've seen the Sonnets mentioned at all in anyone's blog without myself having brought up the subject first. Now I'm feeling well pleased!
I think I may have visited the subject once or twice... Jx
DeleteNow you mention it, I do have a fuzzy recollection in that direction, Jon. Sorry for not doing you justice.
DeleteAll 154!!!!
DeleteNow you have me most impressed! I'm glad you enjoyed the post...I worried about the sonnet, thinking it may be to out of place here, but I wanted it to stand on it's own with glorious florals, and posted it anyway.
Your comment was a nice read and I enjoyed it Raybeard. And please do stop in at Jon place sometime. He is one of the fabulous rare birds we don't seem to have enough of these days. He always has something of interest posting.
I love these flowers! I wish I could have some in my place. I'd be worried about Torrie getting too curious about them.
ReplyDeleteFrom Shakespeare's mouth to the goddesses' ears. Breathtaking photos.
ReplyDeleteYa gotta love the Willy!
ReplyDelete