You Were Right, Joyce

Joyce Grenfell, 10 February 1910 - 30 November 1979, is known and loved mainly for her comic monologues. Her most famous catch phrase, “George, don´t do that!” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXhHFgDRNBQ ) is instantly recognisable to all her fans. What I didn´t know until today is the fact that she wrote some of the most beautifully evocative nature poetry I´ve ever heard. I say “heard” because the following poem was never published and I´ve only just heard it on BBC radio. Luckily, it was on the Listen Again feature so I was able to write it down. I´m sure you´ll agree that it captures the very spirit of Spring.

Taut as a tent the heavenly dome is blue,

Uncrossed by cloud or tossing twig or plane,

A measureless span infinitely new,

To fill the eye and lift the heart again.

Deep in the wintered earth the shock is felt.

Glossy sweet aconite has shown her gold,

And strong straight crocus spears where late we knelt,

To lodge their bulbs are waiting to unfold.

The ragged rooks like tea leaves in the sky,

Straggle towards the earth with awkward grace.

A robin in a silver birch nearby,

Thrusts up his carol through the naked lace.

I´ve known this day for thirty years and more.

It will go on as it has done before.

You were right, Joyce. It has.

Not Quite A New Woman

Well, I´m home again having spent three weeks in the orthopaedic clinic, not quite a new woman yet but gradually getting there. The treatment I received included, among others, hot baths with an electric current flowing through them, laser therapy and, most importantly, “Sklerosierung” (sorry, no translation available) which entails a course of glucose injections directly into the spinal ligaments causing them to become inflamed and eventually to tighten them in order to stabilise the spinal column. All this may sound horrific but it really isn´t. Well, the “Sklerosierung” procedure isn´t something to which I´d subject myself willingly if I didn´t know from experience that it would actually work. In fact it´s still working in that the inflammation has set in but the entire process won´t take effect for several weeks. In the meantime I have to take it easy and, believe me, that is not difficult under the present circumstances! 

The clinic stands close to a small lake in a public park where I used to take a walk most days, especially at the beginning when the weather was warm and sunny. Later it became cold and frosty and one memorable morning I awoke to a white winter landscape. Here are just a few of the many photos I took during those three long weeks.

We put our clocks forward last night but when I look out of the window at my snow covered garden I can only wish that the season had advanced accordingly. Still, this 3D card I made for a nature-loving friend reminds me that, to misquote Shelley´s Ode To The West Wind, If Easter comes can Spring be far behind?