Monday 9 September 2013

Let me count the ways...

@N ~ OK. So I've already gone on (and on) about how much I love Autumn.  But really, I do!  Today has been rather chilly. A slow, steady drizzle since I stepped off the train this morning, and I felt a bit cold on the platform on the way home (it was 55 degrees F - tomorrow will be warmer they say).

My intentions for this evening were actually quite good. I was going to assemble a small wardrobe I bought at IKEA last week. Thanks to the coffee I bought on the train home, I am actually feeling rather awake and I ought to make the most of that.  But I've changed my plans: I've lit candles and tea lights. I'm drinking tea with milk in it. There's something involving apples, plums, and sugar simmering on the stove, and it smells divine and autumnal.  Silly girls from a Jane Austen movie are dancing around on my TV screen.  

An ideal way to spend a rainy Monday evening. The wardrobe can wait; I've lived without one for over a year and a few more days is not going to make one bit of difference.


September has come, it is hers,
whose vitality leaps in the Autumn,
whose nature prefers
trees without leaves and a fire in the fire-place;
So I give her this month and the next,
thought the whole of my year should be hers who has rendered already
so many of its days intolerable or perplexed
but so many more so happy;
who has left a scent on my life and left my walls
dancing over and over with her shadow,
whose hair is twined in all my waterfalls,
and all of London littered with remembered kisses.

~ Excerpt of Louis MacNeice's "Autumn Journal",
which is a lot longer, actually,
but this is the bit I like the most - especially that last line.
"All of London littered with remembered kisses"

4 comments:

Ibs said...

Autumnal is such a nice word!

The Blogless Sister said...

Aye :-)

N said...

So, on the way home this evening while listening to NPR on the radio, they were discussing an article that ranked countries by happiness. And guess who is ranked #1? That's right...your little blissful corner of the world.

Of course, I knew this before the article was published, as I have evidence in your posts. I'm so jealous right now. I'm longing for autumn and instead we are have a rerun of summer. 92F tomorrow and 96F on Wednesday...such a buzz kill when one is in the mood for crisp air and changing leaves.

But, thanks to your inspiration, I'm going to dig out a plethora (don't you just love that word?) of candle holders and get ready for the first real autumn evening that comes along. Thank you for sharing your world with me...I do enjoy it!

N said...

Oh, loved the excerpt too! :D