David,

I like this poem. It speaks with truth without dissolving into simplicity.
The course of life is a theme I can come across again and again without ever
getting tired of it. (How bold of me to jump at its meaning. It could be
about global warming!)

It could just be my ear but I don't slide easily from the end of the third
line in the first verse to the beginning of the fourth. It's less of an
issue from third to fourth in the last verse. "Primroses" is a wonderful
image to use. It conjures the time of year and from there a time of life
perfectly. Image of spring. But it isn't a word that sounds well; at least
for me it isn't. This could depend on how the poem is read, in what accent
and how quickly. Sometimes I read a poem from a book and I can't make it
sound good. But then I hear it read on the radio and it sounds great. At
other times I read poems I wrote once. They sounded fine then (to me) but
not any more. These things are subjective I guess.

Would it help if you dropped the 's' from the end of primroses?

Colin

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Anthony [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2002 5:53 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Warming
>
> Warming
>
> The seasons' course seems strange to me,
> more strange than I remember;
> wild flowers bloom unseasonably:
> primroses in November.
>
> The young are prone to blame us all.
> Well, youth's a great dissembler:
> May was forever, I recall,
> and there was no November.
>
> Myself, I'll take what nature sends
> to hoard for dour December:
> a glow of warmth as autumn ends;
> primroses in November.
>
> Best wishes to all at Pennine for a peaceful and happy New Year
>
> David Anthony