Jane Kenyon was New Hampshire's Poet Laureate and the wife of the great Donald Hall.
This short piece is the center of her poem, Three Songs at the End of Summer. The whole is achingly beautiful, and not as anguished as this section feels on its own. Section 1 (or maybe it's the first Song) talks about haying, the last section/song talks about the first day of school.
The cicada’s dry monotony breaks
over me. The days are bright
and free, bright and free.
Then why did I cry today
for an hour, with my whole
body, the way babies cry?
3 comments:
Oh, this poem is terrific. I love Jane Kenyon. I myself just posted about summer poems on Wednesday of this week. I hope you'll check it out: http://thesmallnouns.blogspot.com/2010/08/poetry-mix-tape-summer-poems.html
"Then why did I cry today
for an hour, with my whole
body, the way babies cry?"
I know! Because weather-wise, this has been such a beautiful summer that it's hard to see it go.
Thanks, Sally.
I cried because I had to advise a friend that yes, she should put her dog down now before the dog got worse. But that's another story and not at all related to the end of summer...or perhaps PERFECTLY related, metaphorically, to the end of summer...
Love your choice for today. I've got that bus stop feeling going on, but I'm the teacher, not the student...
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