Autumn Half Term

Our words of the week this week in the Discovery and War Memorial Libraries were 'vermillion', chosen by Scarlett in 7MP and 'relaxation', chosen by Kyeisha in 11BH, which one of our colleagues commented seemed very apt for the half term week (if the weather stays fine!).

The Saturday poem published in this weekend's Guardian captures beautifully, and with pathos, the changing of the seasons at this time of year:

Summer for an Instant by George Orwell

Summer-like for an instant the autumn sun bursts out,
And the light through the turning elms is green and clear;
It slants down the path and the ragged marigolds glow
Fiery again, last flames of the dying year.

A blue-tit darts with a flash of wings, to feed
Where the coconut hangs on the pear tree over the wall;
He digs at the meat like a tiny pickaxe tapping
With his needle-sharp beak as he clings to the swinging shell.

Then he runs up the trunk, sure-footed and sleek like a mouse,
And perches to sun himself; all his body and brain
Exalt in the sudden sunlight, gladly believing
That the cold is over and the summer is here again.

But I see the umber clouds that drive for the sun
And a sorrow no argument ever can take away
Goes through my heart as I think of the nearing winter,
And the transient light that gleams like the ghost of May;

And the bird, unaware, blessing the summer eternal,
Joyfully labouring, proud of his strength, gay-plumed,
Unaware of the hawk and the snow and the frost-bound nights,

And of his death foredoomed.