Thursday, September 17, 2009

September Poem

Did you have to memorize poetry in school?  We did.  In 6th grade we had to memorize the poem, September by Helen Hunt Jackson.  And recite it in front of the class.  I still remember and love that poem.  The days are growing shorter here in western PA, the air is a little brisker, and the pumpkins on our vines are turning a bright orange as the vines are dying.  And yesterday this poem came to mind.

SEPTEMBER
by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)
      HE golden-rod is yellow;
      The corn is turning brown;
      The trees in apple orchards
      With fruit are bending down.
       
      The gentian's bluest fringes
      Are curling in the sun;
      In dusty pods the milkweed
      Its hidden silk has spun.
       
      The sedges flaunt their harvest,
      In every meadow nook;
      And asters by the brook-side
      Make asters in the brook.
       
      From dewy lanes at morning
      The grapes' sweet odors rise;
      At noon the roads all flutter
      With yellow butterflies.
       
      By all these lovely tokens
      September days are here,
      With summer's best of weather,
      And autumn's best of cheer.
       
      But none of all this beauty
      Which floods the earth and air
      Is unto me the secret
      Which makes September fair.
       
      'T is a thing which I remember;
      To name it thrills me yet:
      One day of one September
      I never can forget.

"September" is reprinted from Poems. Helen Jackson. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1892.

Have a great September day, and take the time to look at all of the autumn signs around you.

2 comments:

mary-myneedlethead.blogspot.com said...

Hi Linda, just read you posts on your grandson Bubby! Oh I hope everything goes well for him, he is in my prayers, how is he doing? Many Hugs, Mary

Pat said...

Nice poem...I didn't know that one. Please keep my 27-year-old daughter in your prayers as she will have surgery on Wednesday to remove a breast lump.