Once upon a time, I lived in New Jersey. Several people who had grown up there used to recite a certain little ditty each year at this time. It went something like this:
Spring is sprung, the grass is ris.
I wonders where the birdies is.
They say the birds is on the wing.
Ain't that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird*
Nowadays, as spring unfolds each year, I think not only of the limerick above, but also of one of my favorite poems by United States Poet Laureate Robert Frost. (As I have mentioned before in my blog posts, it was while in school in Princeton that I first learned to appreciate the works of Robert Frost.)
I thought I would post one of his poems today. He gave it the title of “A Prayer in Spring”.
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.**
As you look around at the beauty of God’s unfolding world this time of year, be sure to take time to offer up some such similar prayer.
And in this process of seeing the beauty of nature as she breaks free from winter and brings forth new life, remember that, as the Apostle Paul says, love is the most important and beautiful thing there is (I Corinthians 13).
Little wonder then, that Easter comes in spring time. Not only has the grass "ris", but so has our Lord! And nothing so combines the beauty of love and new life as well as the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SOURCES:
*No one seems to know where this little rhyme first originated. It has been variously attributed to Ogden Nash and Spike Milligan, among others. For a full discussion of the possible origins, cf.: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/59/messages/875.ht
ml. See also: http://www.cjr.org/language_corner/boing.php?
page=all&print=true.
**Frost’s poems are available online. My source for this one is: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-prayer-in-spring/.
According to the official Library of Congress website, Robert Frost , who lived from 1874 to 1963, was Poet Laureate from 1958-1959. He is “the best known and most beloved American poet of the 20th century.”
He also won the Pulitzer Prize four times for "New Hampshire" (1924), "Collected Poems" (1931), "A Further Range" (1937) and "A Witness Tree" (1943). Much of Frost's work dealt with the life and landscape of New England. He was a poet of traditional verse forms and metric, avoiding the poetic movements of his time. Frost taught primarily at Amherst, 1917-1963. He received 44 honorary degrees, many government tributes, and the Bollingen Prize posthumously.
Spring is sprung, the grass is ris.
I wonders where the birdies is.
They say the birds is on the wing.
Ain't that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird*
Nowadays, as spring unfolds each year, I think not only of the limerick above, but also of one of my favorite poems by United States Poet Laureate Robert Frost. (As I have mentioned before in my blog posts, it was while in school in Princeton that I first learned to appreciate the works of Robert Frost.)
I thought I would post one of his poems today. He gave it the title of “A Prayer in Spring”.
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.**
As you look around at the beauty of God’s unfolding world this time of year, be sure to take time to offer up some such similar prayer.
And in this process of seeing the beauty of nature as she breaks free from winter and brings forth new life, remember that, as the Apostle Paul says, love is the most important and beautiful thing there is (I Corinthians 13).
Little wonder then, that Easter comes in spring time. Not only has the grass "ris", but so has our Lord! And nothing so combines the beauty of love and new life as well as the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SOURCES:
*No one seems to know where this little rhyme first originated. It has been variously attributed to Ogden Nash and Spike Milligan, among others. For a full discussion of the possible origins, cf.: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/59/messages/875.ht
ml. See also: http://www.cjr.org/language_corner/boing.php?
page=all&print=true.
**Frost’s poems are available online. My source for this one is: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-prayer-in-spring/.
According to the official Library of Congress website, Robert Frost , who lived from 1874 to 1963, was Poet Laureate from 1958-1959. He is “the best known and most beloved American poet of the 20th century.”
He also won the Pulitzer Prize four times for "New Hampshire" (1924), "Collected Poems" (1931), "A Further Range" (1937) and "A Witness Tree" (1943). Much of Frost's work dealt with the life and landscape of New England. He was a poet of traditional verse forms and metric, avoiding the poetic movements of his time. Frost taught primarily at Amherst, 1917-1963. He received 44 honorary degrees, many government tributes, and the Bollingen Prize posthumously.