Hello September!!!

.....and welcome!!!

April might be wet and moody, and the summer months can leave you

gasping with the heat

but when did September ever let you down????

Such a wonderful month..

full of energy and enthusiasm and new beginnings...

During the school lunch years (and they were many with our

six children stretched out over sixteen years)

when I was making sandwiches, baking chocolate cakes

and cookies, how I yearned to pack up a lunch

for myself, and join them in the learning experience.

Eventually I did go back to College

but in the meantime September was like New Years,

full of good intentions and

wonderful projects to tackle.

And the colours, the harvest, the mellowness,

the gentle descent into sleep

that was going on in the gardens and

throughout the countryside.,

I loved it then and I love it still.

A few pictures of the countryside in the Autumn

Not this year's pictures - many of them taken on those wonderful
picture taking drives that Charles and I indulged in
when everything was particularly beautiful....

ABC Wednesday
The letter is H for William Ernest Henley

1849-1903

Probably known best for his poem "Invictus"

which reflects his resilient struggle with the deadly disease,

tuberculosis of the bone.

"I am and Master of my fate

I am the Captain of my Soul"

Henley lost his left leg below the knee when he was in his teens.

In 1873 his other leg was affected by tuberculosis

but thanks to the innovative treatment of Dr. Joseph Lister it

was not amputated.  

Henley stayed almost two years under Dr. Lister's care

and during this time he turned to writing poetry 

about his hospital experiences.

These poems are probably the most interesting of all for the present day reader,

as they depart from the traditional themes and imagery

of Victoria poetry and have an affinity in form

with Gerald Manley Hopkins and T.S. Eliot.

'In spite of his illness Henley was a strong and sociable man with boundless energy, 

excellent memory, enthusiasm and versatile mind.'

As much as I admire his poem Invictus

probably my favourite Henley poem is

"O Gather Me the Rose"

lovely words with a gentle admonishment

to gather joy as we find it and whenever we can.

O gather me the rose, the rose,

While yet in flower we find it

For summer smiles, but summer goes,

And winter waits behind it.

For with the dream foregone, foregone,

The deed foreborn forever,

The worm Regret will canker on,

And time will turn him never.

So were it well to love, my love,

And cheat of any laughter

The fate beneath us, and above,

The dark before and after.

The myrtle and the rose, the rose,

The sunshine and the swallow

The dream that comes, the wish that goes

The memories that follow!

William Ernest Henley fell from a railway carriage in 1902

and the accident caused the latent tuberculosis germ

to awaken.  He died on he 11th of July, 1903, a the age of 53.

For more interesting Hs visit here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks for Roger, Denise and Leslie

and all Helpers