Friday, May 18, 2018

these are days: maysong

Greetings from the sodden mid-Atlantic, where on Mother's Day I looked at my weather app and saw something I truly thought was some kind of misprint, user error, data glitch.

Alas, this ten-day forecast has been pretty much accurate, and although my class got lucky with outdoor recess on Monday and Tuesday, today will be our 3rd straight day of indoor recess--in May!

May, of all months, the most voluptuous and enticing of all months,
the month when April showers are to have brought swathes of flowers, when a young person's fancy turns to thoughts of

I CANNOT SPEND A SINGLE  'NOTHER MINUTE INSIDE THIS CLASSROOM EVEN IF TODAY IS THE DAY THAT OUR CHRYSALISES CRACK OPEN & BECOME BUTTERFLIES.


I personally will not be sodden and down-trodden (even as I think with respect and compassion on those of  Muslim students and colleagues who are navigating this dreary gray week of AP's and exams WHILE FASTING) because I will be playing this poem on repeat.  I posted it in April of 2016 as part of my "Lyrics as Poetry" series, but it was a Monday and no one was paying attention...

so here's Natalie Merchant, with 10,000 Maniacs and line breaks by me.

These Are Days


These are the days

These are days 
you'll remember
Never before and never since
I promise
will the whole world be warm as this
And as you feel it
you'll know it's true 
that you are blessed and lucky
It's true 
that you are touched by something 
that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days 
you'll remember
When May is rushing over you 
with desire
to be part of the miracles you see
in every hour
You'll know it's true 
that you are blessed and lucky
It's true 
that you are touched by something 
that will grow and bloom in you

These are days

These are the days you might fill with laughter 
until you break
These days you might feel a shaft of light 
make its way across your face
And when you do 
you'll know how it was meant to be
See the signs and know their meaning
It's true
you'll know how it was meant to be
Hear the signs 
and know they're speaking to you,
to you. 
Play loud against the rain-dimmed sunrise and the rain-bent trees and the rain-rusted azaleas.

"These Are Days" by Natalie Merchant and Rob Buck
from the album Our Time in Eden, 1992

The round-up today is with Rebecca at Sloth Reads.  Slog on over and see what sun peeks from between the clouds....I'm just no good at raining.

10 comments:

  1. I'm with you! Hope you see some sunshine this week!

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  2. The weather strange continues, but only occasional rain. Lots of heat, then high below 50 tomorrow. May's as odd as April! Still at the end of your year, those days will fill with laughter! Thanks for this, Heidi & best wishes for a wonderful end of your school year.

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  3. Wishing you dryer May days, Heidi. Here in Texas, we're getting awfully dry and brittle...to soon for May I'm afraid. I adore your poem to "these days."

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  4. The weather does affect our mood. These last two weeks have been dry and very hot here. Reaching well into the 90's. We are doing rain dances and saying prayers. Thanks for the song. I needed it. I've spent the last days with my students and will be packing classrooms next week, my least favorite time of the year.

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  5. Oh, goodness. I'm sitting at my table on SATURDAY looking out again at the downpour. It's not just raining....it's full on power wash. The sump pump in the basement has been humming along -- thank goodness.
    What a great song! I love it.....and its helping me get down to the work of writing something to submit to my writing group tomorrow!

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  6. I'm hoping for some sunshine to crack through those rain clouds for you! We're getting into the rainy months here in FL. But while the showers come every day, they only last for about 15 minutes or so.

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  7. I'm glad you shared this on again! May the rest of May be filled with sunshine. We haven't had quite that much rain (that was March and April) but my husband swore he would melt when it rained on us during our walk this afternoon.

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  8. Love Natalie Merchant! Wishing you many days of sunshine to come!

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  9. Thanks for Natalie Merchant's uplifting music and poem–we've had rain and cold temps in Chicago, I love it when the suns out–hope it moves your way soon!

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  10. Great share, Heidi! I heard the song a million times and never listened to the words.
    I actually like rain and don't like heat, so today is worse for me than yesterday. But I know I am in the minority with that opinion :-)

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Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!