Cow-parsley on Ditton Meadows and a poem by A. R. Ammons

Cow-parsley on Ditton Meadows, Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire

I repost here a short piece I wrote on the 12th May, 2017 because, just a moment ago, I re-read the poem it contains, and thought that a few new/current readers of this blog might find it helpful . . .

A couple of days ago I walked over to Fen Ditton and took the photo here (just click on it to enlarge it) showing Ditton Meadows looking wonderful in the sun with its refulgent late-spring, May-mess of cow-parsley. Sitting in my study today working through the many emails in my inbox following a couple of weeks leave, my mind wistfully wandered back to the meadows and I reflected on how easy it can sometimes be to miss the beauties of spring entirely. That salutary thought, in turn, sent me back to my copy of A. R. Ammons' Selected Poems and his poem Eyesight, where he offers us some words worthy of careful consideration . . .

Eyesight by A. R. Ammons

It was May before my
attention came
to spring and

my word I said
to the southern slopes
I’ve

missed it, it
came and went before
I got right to see:

don’t worry, said the mountain,
try the later northern slopes
or, if

you can climb, climb
into spring: but
said the mountain

it’s not that way
with all things, some
that go are gone