The poems I am featuring for today are each weather related poems which my mother so beautifully recited to my siblings and I in our childhood. The sound of her voice was both singsong and soothing. I recall how utterly those recitations captured my imagination and how frequently I would recite them both to myself and later to my own young children on stormy days.
The first one is called:
Who Has Seen the Wind by Christina G. Rossetti
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you,
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I,
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
The second is:
Brooms by Dorothy Aldis
On stormy days
When the wind is high
Tall trees are brooms
Sweeping the sky.
They dip their branches
In buckets of rain
And swash and sweep
It blue again.
And if you've made it this far and are still engaged but expect instant boredom looming may I suggest that you try reciting each aloud and see how wonderfully they move off the tongue.
In Brooms, the second stanza is especially pleasing to say and especially so And swash and sweep. It does something to my mouth and makes my brain so happy. (I think it feels like chewing.)
The book my mother memorized the poems from was a collection called Poems and Prayers for the Very Young, a book which completely delighted me for its gentle verses and whimsical illustrations. And in a most nostalgic way it still delights me today.
Wishing you wellness.
Jill
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