{"id":3537,"date":"2020-06-10T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T04:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3537"},"modified":"2020-06-15T10:17:47","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T14:17:47","slug":"june-10-w-h-auden-to-keep-a-date-with-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/06\/10\/june-10-w-h-auden-to-keep-a-date-with-love\/","title":{"rendered":"June 10 – W. H. Auden “to keep a date with love”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday,\u00a0June 10<\/p>\n

These weeks of early June where I live in Michigan, do a lot of teasing. \u00a0Glorious sun with hints of warm weather to come, bringing a rash of flowers and then some gray days line up one after another. \u00a0With our need to keep up with the Covid virus and intense and disorienting outrage about the murder of Mr. Floyd, even some dour\u00a0gray cloud riffs can get wearing. \u00a0Today seems like a good day to read W. H. Auden\u2019s puckish celebration of love\u2019s passion and tenderness around and through these fickle days of grief.<\/p>\n

A little time to pause and read Auden out loud can do us all good.<\/p>\n

Have a blest Wednesday,<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRocky Mountain National Park – Early Summer<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cSong\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The chimney sweepers
\nWash their faces and forget to wash the neck;
\nThe lighthouse keepers
\nLet the lamps go out and leave the ships to wreck;
\nThe prosperous baker
\nLeaves the rolls in hundreds in the oven to burn;
\nThe undertaker
\nPins a small note on the coffin saying, \u201cWait till I return,
\nI\u2019ve got a date with Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

And deep-sea divers
\nCut their boots off and come bubbling to the top,
\nAnd engine-drivers
\nBring expresses in the tunnel to a stop;
\nThe village rector
\nDashes down the side-aisle half-way through a psalm;
\nThe sanitary inspector
\nRuns off with the cover of the cesspool on his arm-
\nTo keep his date with Love.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nFebruary 21, 1907 \u2013 September 29, 1973<\/p>\n

Poem:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cSong\u201d by W.H. Auden, from\u00a0As I Walk Out One Evening: Songs, Ballads, Lullabies, Limericks, and Other Light Verse<\/em>. \u00a9 Vintage Books. Reprinted with permission<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday,\u00a0June 10 These weeks of early June where I live in Michigan, do a lot of teasing. \u00a0Glorious sun with hints of warm weather to come, bringing a rash of flowers and then some gray days line up one after … Continue reading →<\/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\/3537"}],"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=3537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3540,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3537\/revisions\/3540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}