Summer Version: Poem of the Month

 The Summer Day 
 Mary Oliver 


 Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?












 

december

 People, Look East
Eleanor Farjeon

People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.

Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.

Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.

Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.

something beautiful

Something Beautiful

Watching the last of these days disappear
feeling the air get colder
seeing the world get darker.
Memories of lying on the grass
of the sun warming my closed eyes.

Now, the warmth is gone
the sunshine is gone
the world has turned into something new
something colder, something darker
something different,

something Beautiful.

by H. Sokolova 

Welcome to one of the loveliest seasons of the year. We've swept the porch, gathered the sunflower seeds and put a few small pumpkins out. Soon I will hang my fall banner and lights. What about you? What do you do to mirror the loveliness of fall inside your home?

summer sun

Summer Sun

from A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)

 

Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven with repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy’s inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.

november

Each month so far we have memorized a new poem.  This is a new addition to our home educating journey so each monthly poem has actually been entitled for that particular month, so far.  I think poetry is a greatly over looked part of a well rounded education.  Not only does it help with memory and memorization skills but also recitation, public speaking, proper annunciation and articulation, as well as various writing devices, recognition and use of rhyme schemes.  

Poetry memorization has been a surprisingly lovely part of our daily routine.

November

Still the garden blossoms bravely,

     Though the Year is nearly done,

Fresh chrysanthemums are shining

     In the pale and wintry sun.

Such a number of bright colors

     Make the beds and borders plain,

We believe the summer roses

     Must have all come back again.

Now's the time when great plantations

     Must be planted, oak and fir,

Beech and elm, and towering poplar

     That the wandering night-winds stir

And the time when treasured fruit-stones,

     In the summer stored away,

Must be set, that spreading orchards

     May grow up another day.

october

Since the month has changed, that means we are memorizing a new poem.  I think we might even be able to get two memorized if we really try.

October

Where the beech and maple grow

Leaves as bright as flowers show,

Every path, and garden bed,

Are ablaze with gold and red.

Down the lane, and through the stiles,

Berries shine for miles and miles,

Hips and haws and nightshade deep,

Do the hedge-rows festal keep.

For your happy wearing see,

Matchless wreaths of briony,

Fairer than a jeweled crown

For a child to gather down.

Now is pleasant work all-day,

In the orchard where you play,

Laden branches bid you sing

Of a plenteous gathering.

september

We've added this lovely poem to our morning repertoire. We have already memorized the initial one, the daily prayer and we also do a Bible verse a day.  We will include this poem for the entire month.  Birdy's syllabus contains a large collection of poems and rhymes in the back, including one for every month of the year.  This one is not too long, so it's a good one to start with.

September

September brings the ripening sun,

   The clear sharp morning air,

And asters in a border wide, 

And daisies for the garden's pride,

   And foxgloves everywhere.

Among the rushes and the reeds

   Long purples bend and sway,

Between the water and the land,

Beside the shining stream they stand

   Till Autumn fades away.

Plant crocuses and tulips rare,

   To bloom in next Year's Spring,

And crown imperials rich and fine,

To stand up in a glorious line

   Amid new blossoming.