There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

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An invitation from a girl to a boy

A garden

Where have I heard this before?

Adam? I mean Austin?

*

This is the way I approach poems with difficult meanings.

It first of all becomes a companion and I visit occasionally. And when I do this I focus on lines I enjoy. There is something musical about them. I may not understand them but I do not let this alienate me from the line or the poem. In a way it is like listening to a song and enjoying it although you may not understand what is being said all the time. There are songs I have been enjoying for thirty or forty years and if you asked me what they were about I could not tell you.

What is that thing that you are enjoying in your head? Poetry is like this for me.

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So I take this with me. I may at some point read what someone has said about the poem. Or I will just wait and discover for myself what is there.

But it is the relationship that is important with someone whose heart and mind are here even though they may be long gone. It is the relationship with their poem that is important.

And relationships grow over time. They are not static. Or, at least, they should not be.

*

In its unfading flowers

I hear the bright bee hum

“Unfading flowers”. What sort of magical place is this? Imagine yourself in a garden. You hear the bees and you smell the flowers. Wonderful smells. And the flowers never fade.

And why a “bright bee”? That is not a word a would choose to describe a bee.

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