{"id":3338,"date":"2020-01-29T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3338"},"modified":"2020-01-29T15:11:39","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T20:11:39","slug":"jan-29-w-h-auden-to-keep-a-date-with-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/01\/29\/jan-29-w-h-auden-to-keep-a-date-with-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan 29 &#8211; &#8211; W H Auden &#8212; &#8220;to keep a date with love&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, January 29<\/p>\n<p>These mid-winter days, where I live in Michigan, do a lot of teasing. \u00a0Glorious sun with hints of warm weather to come, promising a rash of flowers; and then some gray days line up one after another. \u00a0Our February is just around the corner. \u00a0It\u2019s not as tough as deep ice and snow in Maine, but the gray lineup can get wearing. \u00a0On our three campuses, the pulse of learning and teaching has pretty much hit stride for what we call \u201cWinter Term.\u201d \u00a0 Final exams live off in the distance, and when they arrive, so will the flowering trees and tulips.<\/p>\n<p>Today seems like a good day to read W. H. Auden\u2019s puckish celebration of love\u2019s passion and tenderness around and through these fickle, unpredictable work days. \u00a0 A little time to pause and read this poem out loud (twice maybe?) \u00a0can do us all good.<\/p>\n<p>Have a blest mid-week,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/01\/Flowers.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2174\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/01\/Flowers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/01\/Flowers.jpg 320w, https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/01\/Flowers-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nDetroit Mercy campus, April 22, 2006<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today\u2019s Post \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u201c<strong>Song\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The chimney sweepers<br \/>\nWash their faces and forget to wash the neck;<br \/>\nThe lighthouse keepers<br \/>\nLet the lamps go out and leave the ships to wreck;<br \/>\nThe prosperous baker<br \/>\nLeaves the rolls in hundreds in the oven to burn;<br \/>\nThe undertaker<br \/>\nPins a small note on the coffin saying, \u201cWait till I return,<br \/>\nI\u2019ve got a date with Love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And deep-sea divers<br \/>\nCut their boots off and come bubbling to the top,<br \/>\nAnd engine-drivers<br \/>\nBring expresses in the tunnel to a stop;<br \/>\nThe village rector<br \/>\nDashes down the side-aisle half-way through a psalm;<br \/>\nThe sanitary inspector<br \/>\nRuns off with the cover of the cesspool on his arm-<br \/>\nTo keep his date with Love.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/10\/Auden.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1569\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/10\/Auden.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"152\" height=\"186\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>February 21, 1907 \u2013 September 29, 1973<\/p>\n<p><strong>Poem:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cSong\u201d by W.H. Auden, from\u00a0<em>As I Walk Out One Evening: Songs, Ballads, Lullabies, Limericks, and Other Light Verse<\/em>. \u00a9 Vintage Books. Reprinted with permission.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, January 29 These mid-winter days, where I live in Michigan, do a lot of teasing. \u00a0Glorious sun with hints of warm weather to come, promising a rash of flowers; and then some gray days line up one after another. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/01\/29\/jan-29-w-h-auden-to-keep-a-date-with-love\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3338"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3340,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338\/revisions\/3340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}