April Post - 'By Invitation Only'....

...A tribute to Mother Nature

SPRING  -  GARDEN  -  EASTER WEEK

Eduard Moerike:

Er ist's

Fruehling laesst sein blaues Band

Wieder flattern durch die Luefte;

Suesse, wohlbekannte Duefte

Streifen ahnungsvoll das Land.

Veilchen traeumen schon,

Wollen balde kommen.

- Horch, von fern ein leiser Harfenton!

Fruehling, ja du bist's!

Dich hab ich vernommen!

The stark simplicity of this poem that unfolds so effortlessly in poetic magic

has made a standout in Eduard Moerike's literary achivement.

It has become the favorite German spring poem.

The first impression is one of space into which the speaker is being drawn.

He is standing in a tranquil landscape, highly attentive to what is going on around him.

He then attempts to draw to himself what he sees in the distance observing 

minute movement in distant space: the fluttering blueness in the air becomes a ribbon,

thus transforming the imagined into a concrete presence.

The atmosphere is in gentle movement spreading the familiar scent.

The violets are coming to life, as if they were ushering in the spring.

It's Him!

Spring displays His ribbon blue

fluttering through air's expanses,

sweet, familiar scents over fences

touch with hope the lands anew.

Violets still dreams,

dreams of soon appearing.

- Hark!  a harp sounds softly from afar, it seems!

Yes, my Spring, it's You!

You I have been hearing!

(a loose translation of my favorite spring poem by Eduard Moerike, 1829)

The poem has to do exclusively with sense experience.

First with the sense of sight, then the sense of smell, 

and lastly the sense of hearing which triggers a feeling of jubilation,

convincing the speaker that his expectant longing is about to be fulfulled.

Satiated with sense experience the speaker bursts forth with his first self-conscious

utterance with "Oh Spring, it is you".

Each of the last two lines is punctuated with the sign of joy, an exclamation point. 

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Plant a Garden

by Edgar A. Guest

If your purse no longer bulges

and you've lost your golden treasure,

If times you think you're lonely

and have hungry grown for pleasure,

Don't sit by your hearth and grumble,

don't let mind and spirit harden.

If it's thrills of joy you wish for

get to work and plant a garden!

If it's drama that you sigh for,

plant a garden and you'll get it

You will know the thrill of battle

fighting foes that will beset it

If you long for entertainment and

for pageantry most glowing,

Plant a garden and this summer spend

your time with green things growing.

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If it's comradeship you sight for,

learn the fellowship of daisies.

You will come to know your neighbor

by the blossoms that he raises;

If you'd get away form boredom

and find new delights to look for,

Learn the joy of budding pansies

which you've kept a special nook for.

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If you ever think of dying

and you fear to wake tomorrow

Plant a garden!  It will cure you

of your melancholy, sorrow

Once you've learned to know peonies,

petunias, and roses...

you will find every morning

some new happiness discloses.

Plant a Garden!  

by Edgar A. Guest, 1881 - 1959

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"Easter expectation...."

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A bientôt...