The Spring and the Fall
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

In the spring of the year, in the spring of the year,
I walked the road beside my dear.
The trees were black where the bark was wet.
I see them yet, in the spring of the year.
He broke me a bough of the blossoming peach
That was out of the way and hard to reach.

In the fall of the year, in the fall of the year,
I walked the road beside my dear.
The rooks went up with a raucous trill.
I hear them still, in the fall of the year.
He laughed at all I dared to praise,
And broke my heart, in little ways.

Year be springing or year be falling,
The bark will drip and the birds be calling.
There's much that's fine to see and hear
In the spring of a year, in the fall of a year.
'Tis not love's going hurt my days.
But that it went in little ways.

Autumn Wind
by Wu-ti (157-87 B.C.)
Translated by Arthur Waley (1889-1966)

Autumn wind rises: white clouds fly.
Grass and trees wither: geese go south.
Orchids all in bloom: chrysanthemums smell sweet.
I think of my lovely lady: I never can forget.
Floating-pagoda boat crosses Fen River.
Across the mid-stream white waves rise;
Flute and drum keep time to sound of rowers' song;
Amidst revel and feasting, sad thoughts come;
Youth's years how few! Age how sure!

Wu-ti (157-87 B. C.) was the 6th emperor of the Han dynasty in China. He becamcame emporer when he was only sixteen. In this poem he re- grets that he must go on an official journey and leave his mistress behind. He is seated in his state barge, surrounded by his ministers.

Arthur Waley is a translator of classic Japanese and Chinese literature into English. This poem can be found in his book called Translations from the Chinese, first published in 1919.

Wake Me Up When September Ends
by Green Day

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my fathers come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends

September Song
by Kurt Weill and M. Anderson

When I was a young man courting the girls
I played me a waiting game
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
I'd let the old Earth make a couple of whirls
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
And as time came around she came my way
As time came around, she came

When you meet with the young girls early in the Spring
You court them in song and rhyme
They answer with words and a clover ring
But if you could examine the goods they bring
They have little to offer but the songs they sing
And the plentiful waste of time of day
A plentiful waste of time

Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game

Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you

To disappear into the right words

and to be their meanings. . .

October dusk.

Pink scraps of clouds, a plum-colored sky.

The sycamore tree spills a few leaves.

The cold focuses like a lens. . .

Now night falls, its hair

caught in the lake's eye.

Such clarity of things. Already

I've said too much. . .

Lord,

language must happen to you

the way this black pane of water,

chipped and blistered with stars,

happens to me.

----------------------------------------------------------

This is just to say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Lodestar
by Sarah Harmer
album: You Were Here (2000)

Out of the night, into the water,
We push the boat from shore.
Breaking the air in the stillness of the bay.

Intensity of stars reflected in the harbour,
Silently ignite.
The oar dips in to oil-like water and we,
Are away.

Your hand won't write, not tonight,
But your mind may wander.
Into those deep lagoons that you know.

And your boat will go, by starlight alone.
"Da da da da da da da da"
You sang to the moon.
In the great black night with no lodestar,
In sight.

Out in the night, out on the water,
We pull the boat back to shore.
Breathing the air in the stillness of the bay.
Intensity of stars reflected in the water,
Silently ignite.
The oar dips in to oil like water and we,
Are away.
Under the moon,
In the great black night with no lodestar,
In sight.

And wait for it,
There are only two things now.
This great black night,
And the fire glow.
Listen, the darkness rings,
The darkness.
Listen, the darkness rings.
And wait for it,
There are only two of us now.
This great black night scooped out,
And this fire glow.
Listen, the darkess rings,
The darkness,
Listen, the darkness rings.
Take off your things,
And listen, the darkness rings.

see Week 3 Reading

at dusk

from the island in the river,

and it's not too cold,

I'll wait for the moon

to rise,

then take wing and glide

to meet him.

We will not speak,

but hooded against the frost

soar above

the alder flats, searching

with tawny eyes.

And then we'll sit

in the shadowy spruce

and pick the bones

of careless mice,

while the long moon drifts

toward Asia

and the river mutters

in its icy bed.

And when the morning climbs

the limbs

we'll part without a sound,

fulfilled, floating

homeward as

the cold world awakens.