Robert Browning - Home Thoughts, from Abroad

There are only a couple of days left in England, and I've been thinking of this poem all month, so I thought I'd share it again.

O, to be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!
And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossom'd pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge—
That 's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Thursday Text: Pippa's Song

A snippet of this poem came to me the other day, and when I looked it up I realized how appropriate it was for this time of year.  The name doesn't give much of a clue to the content, though.  It's Pippa's Song by Robert Browning.

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven--
All's right with the world!

Thursday Text: Home Thoughts, from Abroad

I've been thinking of this Robert Browning poem lately: Home Thoughts, from Abroad.

O, to be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossom'd pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge—
That 's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Happy Anniversary!

Five years ago today, Tony and I were married at the beautiful Thanksgiving Point gardens. When Robert Browning married Elizabeth Barrett, he wrote her the following:

You have given me the highest, completest proof of love that ever one human being gave another. I am all gratitude, and all pride (under the proper feeling which ascribes pride to the right source) all pride that my life has been so crowned by you.

Thank you, Tony, for a perfect wedding day and for a wonderful married life.

The Best Is Yet To Be

Tomorrow will mark the 5th anniversary of our engagement. It was a beautiful fall day at Thanksgiving Point where we walked around and got affianced (as Tony liked to say). Then it was dinner at a wonderful Italian place in downtown Salt Lake followed by Peter Cetera and the Utah Symphony. Inscribed in my ring is "GROW OLD ALONG WITH ME," and Tony's reads "THE BEST IS YET TO BE," from Rabbi Ben Ezra by Robert Browning (below). This verse was the theme for our wedding, and it seems just as true today.

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,

The last of life, for which the first was made:

Our times are in His hand

Who saith "A whole I planned,

Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!''

Tony: The best IS yet to be!