Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day -- April 2009

Mother Nature is hitting us with a one-two weather punch today. They say we'll see the sun come Friday, maybe. I've mostly lost hope that we will EVER see the sun again, or that the temps will EVER get out of the 40s, or that it will EVER dry out enough for me to sow the 'Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed' lettuce seeds.

P1010357rrr

IL PLEURE DANS MON CŒUR. . .

II pleut doucement sur la ville.
--Arthur Rimbaud

Il pleure dans mon cœur
Comme il pleut sur la ville;
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénètre mon cœur?

Ô bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits!
Pour un cœur qui s'ennuie
Ô le chant de la pluie!

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce cœur qui s'écœure.
Quoi! nulle trahison? . . .
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C'est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi
Sans amour et sans haine
Mon cœur a tant de peine!

--Paul Verlaine, Romances sans paroles (1874)

LIKE CITY'S RAIN, MY HEART. . .

The rain falls gently on the town.
--Arthur Rimbaud

Like city's rain, my heart
Rains teardrops too. What now,
This languorous ache, this smart
That pierces, wounds my heart?

Gentle, the sound of rain
Pattering roof and ground!
Ah, for the heart in pain,
Sweet is the sound of rain!

Tears rain-but who knows why?-
And fill my heartsick heart.
No faithless lover's lie? . . .
It mourns, and who knows why?

And nothing pains me so--
With neither love nor hate--
A simply not to know
Why my heart suffers so.

--Translated by Norman R. Shapiro, One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine: A Bilingual Edition, 1999

For more GBMD posts, visit Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

18 comments:

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Dear Wenches .. I promise it will get better : )
It is slow going .. but truly .. it will get BETTER ! .. wonderful poem : )

Phoenix C. said...

Like the poetry! Hope your weather improves - we've been very lucky in the UK with lovely spring sunshine.

I've not heard of garden blogger's muse day - will check it out - thanks!

Kerri said...

Hi girls! It's good to see you posting. I've been missing your sense of humor :) The poem is very appropriate for this gloomy, rainy day. Yes, it's miserable here too, but yesterday was lovely with sunshine and mild temps. It's roller coaster weather!
At least we can rest assured that there'll be sunshine and warmth some time in the not-too-distant-future. Right? At least I hope that's the plan!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I think the weather is stuck in winter mode. I hope it gets fixed soon! We even had snow today! Please let the weatherman be right for Friday, I'm counting on it!

Randy Emmitt said...

Wenches,

Not a big deal the weather will pass and it'll be the best spring ever!!!

Anonymous said...

Wenches, I'm with you. This weather totally SUCKS. Hurry up, July.

F Cameron said...

I just left a message on another blog about Mother Nature being menopausal here with her hot flashes and cold sweats (rain).

Love the poem!

Cameron

Petunia's Gardener said...

You know it is not a good gardening sign when on Apr. 1 you hear forecasts of both snow and sunshine and you correctly know which is the joke!
Here's hoping!
Paula

Aunt Debbi/kurts mom said...

Wish I could have shared the beautiful sunny weather we had today with you.

Gardeness said...

Rain is good for the plants. ... Oh, who am I kidding? Get on with the sunshine already!

Anna said...

I enjoyed your GBMD poem. Not much consolation but remember that adage' April flowers bring May showers' :)

our friend Ben said...

Love Verlaine, and I hadn't read that one in a while. Thanks for posting it! I think my faves are "Chanson d'Automne" and "Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit." A wonderful lyric poet. Your day doesn't sound too great, but you've made mine!

Jan said...

What melancholy in your own words and in that poem! It has to get better, but I can understand your momentary uncertainty! (I love Cameron's line 'hot flashes and cold sweats' as it applies to the menopausal weather!). May you have smooth sailing and not rough seas very soon;-)

Curmudgeon said...

Hi GardenJoy4Me! Are you sure??? Today is even worse than yesterday. And the forecast has shifted the one sunny day from Friday to Saturday. I don't know...

Greetings Phoenix C. Enjoy that sunshine! The rain continues to fall here this morning.

Hi Kerri! The news late last night said that our average temp this March was colder than the average temp for Feb. That's just wrong!

Hi Catherine. Wing Nut said they had snow up at the nursery. Here in the city only rain. Looks like we won't be seeing the sun Friday after all.

Hi Randy. We are sooooo ready for a change around here.

Hi Grace. Yes, let's focus on July. As I recall, last year June wasn't all that great around here.

LOL Cameron! Hey Mother Nature can let loose with a hot flash any day now.

Hi Paula. I just checked our blog for this time last year. Our irises were about to open. This year--not even a bud! Not funny. Not funny at all.

Awwww Aunt Debbi. That's so sweet of you. Here's sending you a cyberhug.

Seriously Gardeness, let's get on with the sunshine! I had dragged the pots of perennials from the shade garden to the patio so they could get a bit more light. Silly me. Now they are drowning!

Hi Anna. That must be the Pacific Northwest version of the adage! The poor daffs and hyacinths are flat on the ground from the weight of the rain. I hear the UK has been getting sunshine. Enjoy!

Hi OFB. Glad you enjoyed the poem. This GBMD the choice of poems was quite easy.

Hi Jan. Unfortunately, today is even worse than yesterday. Here's hoping Spring sails on in real soon.

donna said...

My son is in Spokane for business. Called this AM and said it was snowing there. We have enough of that here in WI. Hope we eventually get to hear/see more about your Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed lettuce.

Vancouver Isle Doug said...

I just found your blog and you are so close that I have to sign up to follow your adventures. Recently transplanted from US midwest to Vancouver Island so it's a whole new gardening world for us. We have two acres on a hill overlooking the Juan de Fuca Strait. Wind is now my enemy!

Good luck with your Spring weather. It HAS to get better, eh?

Curmudgeon said...

Hi Donna. Sure hope your son does not need to get over the passes as they have been closed, off and on, for avalanche control work. You all in WI know how to deal with snow.

Welcome Doug. We have some dear friends in Victoria--also transplanted from the midwest. I just about fell over last night when I saw the forecast--5 days of sunshine and temps getting up to the 60s. It's about time!

Anonymous said...

Like you, spring is skipping us. We still have winter's freezing temps and ice on the windshield.