"And what is so rare as a day in June?"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Tue Jun 1, 2021: "And what is so rare as a day in June?"

Mon Jun 1, 2020: "And what is so rare as a day in June?"

My grandmother loved that line. She'd recite the first few couple of lines on June 1. I reminder hearing her say it as we were walking from her apartment to a nearby shopping center one day. It had to be 1963 or 1964 or back there somewhere. She never learned how to drive. I don't think she carried more than $5 on her at any time. She was my favorite relative. I can't help but think of her every June 1.

Pay no attention to my tears.

I'm sure I've posted this before, but I can't find it now. Yeah, I could look it up in the archives.

The Vision of Sir Launfal
by: James Russell Lowell (Author)
from: The Vision of Sir Launfal 1848

{snip}

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays:
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, grasping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen
Thrilling back over hills and valleys;
The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,
And there 's never a leaf or a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace;
The little bird sits at his door in the sun,
Atilt like a blossom among the leaves,
And lets his illumined being o'errun
With the deluge of summer it receives;
His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,
And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings;
He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest, –
In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?

{snip}

[montanacowboy]

1. We had to memorize that

in my English Lit class in high school many eons ago and I will never forget it. To this day I can say it from memory. Funny the things that stick with us.

[Karadeniz]

2. That's such a lovely memory!!! Glad you have it to hold onto...