Saturday, April 18, 2009

Springtime Means Hello and Goodbye

Spring is a fleeting thing in Minnesota. A friend (hi, Jane!) just reminded me of my beloved grandmother, and jogged a few treasured memories, one of which is this poem. It was one of the hundreds of poems she knew by heart and could recite with great drama and relish, but this one was most often murmured quietly to a sleepy grandchild tucked warmly into bed for a cozy night's sleep. It has little literary value, I imagine, and so has slipped into obscurity - certainly nobody else I know has ever admitted to having heard or read it. But I think it's a lovely little reminder of the brief joys of spring, and of life, so I share it here in hopes that someone else will treasure it and keep it alive just a little bit longer...

Baby Seed Song
by Edith Nesbit, 1858-1924

Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
Are you awake in the dark?
Here we lie cosily, close to each other:
Hark to the song of the lark
"Waken!" the lark says, "waken and dress you;
Put on your green coats and gay,
Blue sky will shine on you, sunshine caress you
Waken! 'tis morning 'tis May!"
Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
What kind of a flower will you be?
I'll be a poppy all white, like my mother;
Do be a poppy like me.
What! You're a sunflower! How I shall miss you
When you're grown golden and high!
But I shall send all the bees up to kiss you;
Little brown brother, good-bye.

4 comments:

Terri said...

very nice!
Terri
www.RedBrickRoadFarmSheep.blogspot.com

Barbara Maloney said...

Brings back memories of my beautiful mother (and a tear or two - I can hear her saying that poem). I've always loved it.

timary said...

How sweet! Can I post it on my blog, too?

mrspao said...

Beautiful :)