Loveliest of Trees

I took this picture with me to Paint-A-Pot last semester and painted the image on a plate in honor of this poem. It's a lovely image of spring; makes me want to go back to Washington DC, I remember the cherries were gorgeous there when in bloom.



Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

One of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets! This one definitely makes my top ten (hmm I should compile that), and it's a fitting start to my twentieth. It's funny, this year has brought so many changes for me, in figuring out who I am and what I want out of life, that twenty actually feels different.

I love the reminders in A.E.Housman's poetry (With rue my heart is laden also comes to mind); how here he gently points out the shortness of life, the importance of enjoying the beauty of the cherry in springtime- the idea that fifty years is not nearly enough time to enjoy all spring has to offer. Fifty years seems like forever! I may no longer be a teenager, but I still clutch to the youthful idea of invincibility; time seems to stretch forever in all directions. Costa Rica is only five days away, but that in itself is an eternity!

I wonder if he followed his own advice. The man lived to be 77, so he had plenty of time to practice.