"In the Month of May" by Robert Bly

 

23 May 2013

In the month of May when all leaves open,
I see when I walk how well all things
lean on each other, how the bees work,
the fish make their living the first day.
Monarchs fly high; then I understand
I love you with what in me is unfinished.

I love you with what in me is still
changing, what has no head or arms
or legs, what has not found its body.
And why shouldn’t the miraculous,
caught on this earth, visit
the old man alone in his hut?

And why shouldn’t Gabriel, who loves honey,
be fed with our own radishes and walnuts?
And lovers, tough ones, how many there are
whose holy bodies are not yet born.
Along the roads, I see so many places
I would like us to spend the night.

"In May" by Archibald Lampman

 

21 May 2015

Grief was my master yesternight;
To-morrow I may grieve again;
But now along the windy plain
The clouds have taken flight.

The sowers in the furrows go;
The lusty river brimmeth on;
The curtains from the hills are gone;
The leaves are out; and lo,

The silvery distance of the day,
The light horizons, and between
The glory of the perfect green,
The tumult of the May.

The bobolinks at noonday sing
More softly than the softest flute,
And lightlier than the lightest lute
Their fairy tambours ring.

The roads far off are towered with dust;
The cherry-blooms are swept and thinned;
In yonder swaying elms the wind
Is charging gust on gust.

But here there is no stir at all;
The ministers of sun and shadow
Horde all the perfumes of the meadow
Behind a grassy wall.

An infant rivulet wind-free
Adown the guarded hollow sets,
Over whose brink the violets
Are nodding peacefully.

From pool to pool it prattles by;
The flashing swallows dip and pass,
Above the tufted marish grass,
And here at rest am I.

I care not for the old distress,
Nor if to-morrow bid me moan;
To-day is mine, and I have known
An hour of blessedness.

Vincelli's Garden Centre on 19 May 2024

I walked along Westminster Avenue taking these photographs, adjacent to the old Vincelli's Garden Centre, and I remembered how much I enjoyed visiting here and buying plants in the spring, in May, Ecinachea and other flowers; usually I would purchase perennials, and most of these plants are still flourishing in our garden. One of these days we will return to this site and find bulldozers have cleared away the past, the structures where geraniums hung from rafters, and then a huge hole will be dug, for indoor parking. It will all be cleared away and building will begin, and then people will move in and the condos will be occupied. And all of this, gone forever.

"Song on a May Morning" by John Milton

 

18 May 2014

Now the bright morning star, day’s harbinger,
Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose.
Hail, bounteous May, that doth inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire;
Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing,
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

The view from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 21 April 2024.

                                      

                                        

                                                

                               

                                     

A tiny garden

On the corner Nelson and Westminster, a tiny garden, always beautifully maintained and attractive to pedestrians; 9 May 2024.

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14 May 2011, driving home from work

The old Champlain Bridge

Cranes used during the construction of the super-hospital

See those cranes on the horizon? That was the first major construction in Montreal
for many years; what we call the "neverrendums", two referendums on Quebec 
separation from Canada, had killed investment in Quebec