Sunlight is a Thing To Do. And it will Cheer You Up. Promise.

Googling Auden for Year 12, I came across a blog. It's called The Wondering Minstrels. It seems to have been dormant for a while, but when it was active it worked on a simple enough concept. They published a poem a day, and give some background to it. And stacks of people then commented on it.

This is the poem I came across. It isn't Auden (although there IS a Larkin poem underneath it). I read it and felt...sunny.

And after a terrible Sunday, an unspeakably dreadful Sunday night and a fairly hideous Monday, it was just what the doctor ordered.


The Word

 Down near the bottom
 of the crossed-out list
 of things you have to do today,

 between "green thread"
 and "broccoli" you find
 that you have penciled "sunlight."

 Resting on the page, the word
 is as beautiful, it touches you
 as if you had a friend

 and sunlight were a present
 he had sent you from some place distant
 as this morning -- to cheer you up,

 and to remind you that,
 among your duties, pleasure
 is a thing,

 that also needs accomplishing
 Do you remember?
 that time and light are kinds

 of love, and love
 is no less practical
 than a coffee grinder

 or a safe spare tire?
 Tomorrow you may be utterly
 without a clue

 but today you get a telegram,
 from the heart in exile
 proclaiming that the kingdom

 still exists,
 the king and queen alive,
 still speaking to their children,

 - to any one among them
 who can find the time,
 to sit out in the sun and listen.

-- Tony Hoagland  

I really like love the lines below:

"...among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing..."

Damn straight it is.

So smile. Be happy. Try to work hard, because that's important, you know. Working hard. Do the boring-but-necessary stuff like buying stamps (argh, I forgot) and a tax disc (oops). But also make time for the sunny stuff, because that's as important.

I've just had good news of a moeny-related nature. Could this be why a chirpy poem about sunlight and love has perked me up? Materialistic little me? Never.