Summer came quickly
Summer came quickly this year,
Scarce a breath between
Daffodils and blooming may;
Blackthorn and whitethorn
Overlapped in flowering bliss.
Leaf buds unfurled so fast
I could not map their progress,
Leaping from tight knots
To silken green in moments.
The general rumble of rooks
Minding their business in treetops
Passed to the chaotic conversation
Of growing families in days.
The scent of new-mown grass
Hangs on the evening air
Like celestial incense burned
To honour the return of the Sun.
Summer came so quickly
Now I must mourn the Spring.
Zen and the Art of Tightrope Walking 
indeed it has… a fitting tribute to our seasons. nice poem
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IT was written a couple of years back when it took a while for spring to get going in the Midlands. Now I am on the East Coast and this year we have had an even slower start: there’s been May blossom out at the same time as the Elderflowers. And its cold too.
thanks enreal.
x
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“The scent of new-mown grass
Hangs on the evening air”
There is nothing quiet like it! Lovely poem Viv 🙂
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Thank you.
I’d been thinking about the power of scent on memory and decided to put this up as I was homesick for my old garden.
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I’ll mourn Spring all year-round . . until the next one.
michael j
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I gather Spring is YOUR season Michael J.
I love each season for its beauties and specialness but they seem so mucked up these days I never know which is which any more.
xx
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I agree with you about the scent of memories. I often have had “flashbacks” to scenes and people that I would have thought “wiped” from my memory. It is one of my regrets that the medication I take has blunted my sense of smell so much – and has warped it, so that I cannot smell some things and others have unpleasant overtones; for example, I can always smell ammonia on fish, however fresh it may be. Fortunately, the honeysuckle and philadelphus in my garden have a perfume that is magnified! And leaf mould in the woods smells good enough to eat. Thank you for the verse
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The brain area that processes fragrance is linked to memory and it’s a powerful therapy tool.
I love the scent of honeysuckle and jasmine very much; I managed to find a supplier that has a decent(if horrifically expensive) essential absolute of honeysuckle so I can recall the scent in winter.
I have terrible memories that are conjured up by certain scents: May blossom is one, but that has thankfully been overlaid by some lovely ones, courtesy of my husband.
I was slowly writing a book of meditations using fragrances but it seemed to have stalled. Time and being too busy with other things have stopped it. Maybe I ought to post them here?
thanks Ian.
be well and thank you.
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Hi Viv,
Nice poem. Scent is an amazing way to re-visit the past.
Here’s a weird one. (you just reminded me)
I used to play the saxophone when I was a teenager. My Dad had an old alto that has this really gross old brass smell to it.
I don’t play anymore, but once in a while, I pull it out and inhale deeply… I’m 12 years old again and learning to play the sax with Dad at my side.
I’d love to read some of those meditations!
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Then I shall put them up.
I read about your dad yesterday and how good he was at fixing things and am going to comment; found it very moving but had a funny day yesterday and didn;t do a lot.
xx
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no doubt
seems we went from winter to summer with scarcely the hint of spring
from what i have read scent stimulates memory more than any other stimuli
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hello Ozymadiaz(king of kings??)
thanks, we had a very cold slow spring here, didn’t we.
I find I remember things in association with smells rather more than many; maybe in another life I’d have been a “nose” for the perfume industry.
nice of you to pop by; thanks!
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Lovely picture Viv…and beautiful words to complement it:)
-Shafali
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This reminds me of Philip Larkin in his more lyrical moments.
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Why thankee kindly, young lady!!
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