Songs of the season... Were coming up on the first-year anniversary of our time in the new house, and Im remembering the weather. Thanks to our blessed Northeast Monsoon, December had been predictably cool (by our Tropical standards, of course) and wet, with rain falling into the first week of January. I remember having to fill a low spot below the back-yard gate with leftover tiles from a house across the street so that the movers wouldnt be stepping/slipping in mud. However, that was the last rain we had...for two months. Our blessed Northeast Monsoon had decided to leave abruptly--and early. Everything withered and died. I fear the same is happening this year, as well. Im sensing that the weather is shifting away from cool and wet to dry and hot--especially after today, which was breezy but sunny, with almost completely clear skies. Which meant, of course, that it was much warmer today than it has been for the past few weeks. Seasons in Malaya are subtle things, but since I never go anywhere outside Malaya (meaning Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia)--for years at a time, in fact--Ive become fairly attuned to their subtleties. And it saddens me, this year especially, to see the blessed Northeast Monsoon leave (if leave it really has). The entire festive season has flown by so quickly--as has our annual HP Shutdown (the weeklong forced vacation between Christmas an New Years, which ends tomorrow). Of course, since I follow the Swedes Christmas schedule (where Christmas lasts for 20 days, until St. Knuts Day on 13 January), Ive more than a week left to go of snowmen and sleigh bells and such. But I spent much of the day feeling like I did when I was in school, on the Sunday night before school started up again: anxious, a tad melancholy. Time is flying too fast. Seasons are spinning out of control. So fast. Too fast. As we spin away from Solstice, a bit of a seasonal big picture: a recap of the seasons and the cycle of the year (in temperate climes, at least). This 19th century poem is here performed by one of my favourite musicians, Canadian Loreena McKennitt. And so the world goes round and round, and every time and season With pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year And so with every time of life, to him who acts with reason The beauty of all things doth appear. _____ The Seasons Come all you lads and lasses, Id have you give attention To these few lines Im about to write here Tis of the four seasons of the year that I shall mention The beauty of all things doth appear And now you are young and all in your prosperity Come cheer up your hearts and revive like the spring Join off in pairs like the birds in February That St. Valentines Day it forth do bring Then cometh Spring, which all the land doth nourish The fields are beginning to be decked with green The trees put forth their buds and the blossoms they do flourish And the tender blades of corn on the earth are seen Dont you see the little lambs by the dams a-playing? The cuckoo is singing in the shady grove The flowers they are springing, the maids they go a-Maying In love all hearts seem now to move. Next cometh Autumn with the sun so hot and piercing The sportsman goes forth with his dog and his gun To fetch down the woodcock, the partridge and the pheasant For health and for profit as well as for fun Behold, with loaded apple trees the farmer is befriended They will full up his casks that have long laid dry All nature seems to weary now, her task is nearly ended And more of the seasons will come by and by. When night comes on with song and tale we pass the wintry hours By keeping up a cheerful heart we hope for better days We tend the cattle, sow the seed, give work unto the ploughers With patience wait till winter yields before the suns fair rays And so the world goes round and round, and every time and season With pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year And so with every time of life, to him who acts with reason The beauty of all things doth appear. youtube/watch?v=Xpq4Bd3OPWs
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 14:55:42 +0000
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