Response -- Mary Ursula Bethell

Guest poem submitted by Stephanie Pegg:

(Poem #1849) Response When you wrote your letter it was April, And you were glad that it was spring weather, And that the sun shone out in turn with showers of rain. I write in waning May and it is autumn, And I am glad that my chrysanthemums Are tied up fast to strong posts, So that the south winds cannot beat them down. I am glad that they are tawny coloured, And fiery in the low west evening light. And I am glad that one bush warbler Still sings in the honey-scented wattle... But oh, we have remembering hearts, And we say 'How green it was in such and such an April,' And 'Such and such an autumn was very golden,' And 'Everything is for a very short time.' -- Mary Ursula Bethell

My first encounter with this poem was on a tape on which my sister had read
out poems that she liked and sent me for my birthday, and maybe ten years
later I still remember this one.  It's just after Easter right now, which in
New Zealand means hot cross buns, chocolate eggs, and lots of rain while
everyone hunkers down for chilly winter.  This poem strikes me as an
appropriate follow up for Poem #1851 celebrating the advent of a northern
hemisphere spring.

Stephanie Pegg