If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

- George Washington

Friday 24 February 2012

Earth's Immeasurable Surprise



This time of year always brings a favourite poem to mind: utterly simple, yet utterly profound. Larkin at his best. From The Whitsun Weddings (1956):

First Sight

Lambs that learn to walk in snow
When their bleating clouds the air
Meet a vast unwelcome, know
Nothing but a sunless glare.
Newly stumbling to and fro
All they find, outside the fold,
Is a wretched width of cold.

As they wait beside the ewe,
Her fleeces wetly caked, there lies
Hidden round them, waiting too,
Earth's immeasurable surprise.
They could not grasp it if they knew,
What so soon will wake and grow
Utterly unlike the snow.

1 comment:

  1. I passed a roundabout on Sunday that was covered in daffodils, just about to bloom. Absurd how cheerful that can make you...

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