Welcome back to the Daily Poem here on the Close Reeds Podcast Network. I'm David Kern. Today is

February 6th, 2020. And the poem that I'm going to read today is by A.E. Hausman, an English poet who

lived from 1859 to 1936. He was an English classical scholar, as a matter of fact. The poem that I'm

going to read today is called Loveliest of Trees. It as a matter of fact. The poem that I'm going to read today is called

Loveliest of Trees. It's a bit of an ode to spring coming soon. I'm sure a lot of people out there

ready for spring to come and need some ice and snow to thaw. So with that hope in mind,

I figured I'd read a poem that speaks to that hope. And here

is A.E. Houseman's loveliest of trees. Lovelyest of trees, the cherry now is hung with bloom

along the bow and stands about the woodland ride wearing white for Eastertide.

Now of my three score years and ten, twenty will not come again and take from 70 springs a score.

It only leaves me 50 more.

And since to look at things in bloom, 50 springs little room about the woodlands i will go to see the cherry hung with snow

i imagine many people who are listening who are you know living where it's very cold, are thinking to themselves

exactly what Houseman's saying here. There's just 50 springs is not enough time. It's not

enough springs to truly be able to enjoy spring, especially if you live in a place where spring is

short, perhaps. Maybe you go from cold to hot,

or as they say in Wisconsin, from Christmas to construction,

or winter to construction.

Now, maybe you got a little bog down in the middle of this poem

in the middle of the three stanzas,

because there's a lot of math happening there.

Of my three-score years and ten, he writes,

...