October’s Bright Blue Weather
by Helen Hunt Jackson
O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather.
When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;
When gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;
When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;
When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;
When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;
When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.
O suns and skies and clouds of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year,
October’s bright blue weather.
One of the purposes for us as students in a state-maintained residential school for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing to learn and memorize poetry was to help us gain an appreciation, knowledge and understanding of the English language. American Sign Language (ASL) and English are two distinctly different languages that may share a vocabulary (words) and little else. Twin and I can remember this poem as it was one of the first we had to commit to memory but it was also a major challenge.
The references to all of the varieties of flowering growth was not something easy for us to deal with. None of the plants were familiar to us, either in Virginia or in Greece. In order to finger-spell the names of all the different types, we had to first learn how to properly spell the actual name. We both recall the relief and satisfaction we both felt once this task was finished and we performed our assigned recital, in front of our class. Over and done!
Neither one of us have any particular attachment, appreciation, attraction or desire for anything related to the month of October! It’s another month, one out of twelve annually!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, October 11, 2014, and the proposed topic is: “Coming Out/Awareness Day!”
