Fern Hill

photograph by Zachary Nelson via Unsplash

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means…

— Dylan Thomas

I Don’t Wanna Know

And all through my coffee break time…

LIFE, 1955

Alter? When the hills do.
Falter? When the sun
Question if his glory
Be the perfect one.
Surfeit? When the daffodil
Doth of the dew:
Even as herself, O friend!
I will of you!

–Emily Dickinson

on revisiting my school playground

I was still there

in the same place

right where I left me

when I looked up

the grass was greener

and I had a magical feeling

it was all in front of me

I turned around

I looked back and waved

and got in my car

–John Sapiro, “on revisiting my school playground”
 


Michael Philip Manheim, Neighborhood Youngsters in the Playground… (1973)