Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Saturday 2 November 2013

I Remember, I Remember


I remember, I remember
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun 
 Came peeping in at morn.

                                  

I remember, I remember 
The roses red and white,
The violets and the lily cups -
Those flowers made of light.









The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday-
The tree is living yet








I remember, I remember 
Where I used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh:
To swallows on the wing.








I remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky.






With thanks to Thomas Hood (1799-1845) whose lines these are. I have omitted some of the ‘darker’ elements. All photos are my own. Numbers one and two are of me and my brother in the first house I ever lived in; the roses, lilacs and fir trees are from three houses back (we’ve moved around a lot) and my son is pictured, thirty years ago, on a swing in my husband’s childhood home.

Why not take a tour of the Sepia Saturday estate this week, and see how other contributors have responded to the prompt picture?


19 comments:

  1. Oh I remember too, my own little place in childhood. This was very touching, and so lovely to follow along with you. Bravo. Lovely, just lovely in so many ways.

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  2. I expected a moody dark poet when looking him up, but he was a humorist. A pleasant surprise, especially since "no fruits - no flowers - no leaves - no birds - November" has just started.

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  3. You were such a lovely child. The photo or you, your doll and your brother with the shadow is wonderful. Your son must have loved swinging on his Dad's swing. Such a nostalgic and lovely post

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  4. A lovely poem, that - I had misremembered it as being by R L Stevenson. I also remember that there were some moralising verses, a pity, as the verses you have quoted are wonderfully evocative, somehow.

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  5. A nicely presented post, and fine choice of words. Poetry suits some themes much better than prose.

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  6. I always like to imagine the photographer when i look at the old photos and your photos have a lovely sense of calm and pleasure.

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  7. Lovely poem, lovely children, lovely flowers, I give you an "A" for bringing back memories when I was a young girl.

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  8. I loved your post, as " I Remember" was one of my favourite poems, though I was always puzzled by the meaning behind he final verse. You have illustrated it beautifully too. Funny that it never occurred to me at all to think of this poem when I was writing my contribution. Thank you for giving me a reminder of it.

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  9. Of course I had to go and find the "darker elements" so I agree they were better left out. The poem is not one I know but it suits your pictures perfectly.

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  10. I want a vine-covered swing!
    The lines of poetry capture what most Sepians have been doing this week as we've put together our contributions to the prompt - remembering this and that from our past homes.

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  11. Nice memories. The words from the poem work well with your post.

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  12. Excellent post. I love how you customized the lines from the poem with your photos.

    Dee

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  13. A great way to blend poetry and photos.

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  14. What a treat! Photos and poetry and tied together so nicely.

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  15. That reminds me. I think there's a photo of me in a swing at my mother's house.

    I really thought that you had written the poem, Nell. Very apt indeed.

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  16. You chose beautiful and perfect photos to accompany the poem, Little Nell. I love the one of you at the windowsill at top.

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  17. The whole piece was like warm sunshine, the words and pictures perfect together.

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  18. Very sweet, both poem and pictures :-)

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  19. Great poem and apt photos to go with it.

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