16 March 2006

"March," by Edward Thomas


Now I know that Spring will come again,
Perhaps to-morrow: however late I've patience
After this night following on such a day.

While still my temples ached from the cold burning
Of hail and wind, and still the primroses
Torn by the hail were covered up in it,
The sun filled earth and heaven with a great light
And a tenderness, almost warmth, where the hail dripped,
As if the mighty sun wept tears of joy.
But 'twas too late for warmth. The sunset piled
Mountains on mountains of snow and ice in the west:
Somewhere among their folds the wind was lost,
And yet 'twas cold, and though I knew that Spring
Would come again, I knew it had not come,
That it was lost too in those mountains chill.

What did the thrushes know? Rain, snow, sleet,
hail, Had kept them quiet as the primroses.
They had but an hour to sing. On boughs they sang,
On gates, on ground; they sang while they changed perches
And while they fought, if they remembered to fight:
So earnest were they to pack into that hour
Their unwilling hoard of song before the moon
Grew brighter than the clouds. Then 'twas no time
For singing merely. So they could keep off silence
And night, they cared not what they sang or screamed;
Whether 'twas hoarse or sweet or fierce or soft;
And to me all was sweet: they could do no wrong.
Something they knew--I also, while they sang
And after. Not till night had half its stars
And never a cloud, was I aware of silence
Stained with all that hour's songs, a silence
Saying that Spring returns, perhaps to-morrow.


*To hear Leslie Norris read this poem, go to http://www.kbyufm.org/poetry/

15 March 2006

Sebboo Smiles






Here we see several phases of Sebastian's smile. It often begins with biting the lower lip, then widens into a sort of smirk, followed by the flowering of a full-fledged grin. Note, also, how sturdily he is sitting up. (What an exceptional child!)

Tooth

Can you see it? Sebby's first tooth. He's already making good use of it, biting everything in sight. Of course, he was already doing that. But now he means business.

Sebastian crawls



Well, I think it's official. Sebby's a crawler. I like it best when he stands on his hands and his feet (bypassing the knees altogether; see middle picture). He also seems to get his feet tangled up together an awful lot. He puts one foot on top of the other leg and pushes off that rather than the floor. Which leads to tangled legs, which leads to him trying to fool you into thinking he was actually trying to sit up but changed his mind. N.B. the toe sticking out of his suit in the top picture. This is actually a big distraction for him, as it means he has to take time out between crawls to bend double and bite it. (See "tooth," above.)

06 March 2006

Our happy boys



Abe at the playground


Abraham is a good jumper and runner and climber. He likes to try new things at the playground, like climbing ladders instead of stairs. His favorite thing at playgrounds are the slides--especially curly slides, if there are any.

Sebby at the playground




Sebastian loves swinging on the baby swings! He was very interested in the chains and hooks holding him up, and kept trying to grab them. When I pushed him in the swing he laughed and flapped his arms and kicked his legs.