Goldengrove Unleaving

Márgarét, áre you gríeving

Over Goldengrove unleaving?

Leáves like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?

Ah! ás the heart grows older

It will come to such sights colder

By and by, nor spare a sigh

Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;

And yet you wíll weep and know why.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Spring and Fall”

****

Márgarét, cease your wailing;

Silent scarlet leaves are sailing.

Here’s a thought on which to thrive:

Let’s all go out and take a drive.

Worlds of wanwood, sure, we’ll pass,

Occasionally we’ll stop for gas;

Sometimes roadside food ain’t great,

But I can scarcely stand to wait.

You can clear your case of dudgeon

Dump ol’ Hopkins, that curmudgeon!

Blaknissan, “Margaret, Get With the Program”

****

Yes, it’s Autumn here in the northern hemisphere. Let’s get in the car with The Boss and take a drive to see the season change under western skies. (Those of you south of the equator may want to do the same, to see Spring return.)

In Washington state, up near the northern coast (click on any photo for larger view):

In Colorado, first in the Colorado National Monument:

Mesa Verde National Park

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park:

And north, to Alaska! (note: fall comes early there; these photos were made in mid-September a few years ago, not long before snow closed the road).

And a bonus, a wolf pack in the autumn-tinged tundra.

Where will you go to see the season change under western (or eastern) skies? Please leave a comment. Get out and enjoy.

Seriously, I admire the poetry of G. M. Hopkins immensely, and mean no disrespect. It’s always a good day to discover this master of the art, or to rediscover him, if it’s been a while since you read him. Read him aloud.

Here’s the rest of “Spring and Fall:”

Now no matter, child, the name:

Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.

Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed

What heart heard of, ghost guessed:

It ís the blight man was born for,

It is Margaret you mourn for.

 ****

© Brad Nixon 2015, 2018. “Spring and Fall,” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, quoted for educational/illustrative use only, with no commercial application.