Stop and Smell the Hay

The smell of fresh hay is in the air again! 

There is something good about this time of year.

Hot afternoons and strawberry milkshakes 

for everyone.

“Would you like a treat, Grandpa?!”

“Ballad”

We'll walk among the tedded hay,

That smells as sweet as flowers;

While the meadow water winds its way

Beneath the hawthorn bowers.

And when the bright green haycocks throw

Their shadows from the sun,

When thou art weary there we'll go,

And rest, the heat to shun.

We'll to the hawthorn shades retire,

Where blooms the wild dog rose;

And smell the sweetly scented briar,

Where the shining river flows.

We'll talk o'er joys we once could prove,

And blithely spend the day,

For those pleasant dreams of early youth

Can never pass away.          by John Clare (1793-1864)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

 Proverbs 3:5