By Scott Shephard
My post titles occasionally come from songs and poems that have been sleeping in my memory and are triggered by the photos. Such is the nature of free association. . .
Franky,I thought today's title came from an ancient English poem but it doesn't it. It actually comes from a parody of an ancient English poem. The first stanza of the ancient poem goes like this
“Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ* sed and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu.
Sing cuccu!”
Translated, it reads
“Summer has come in
Loudly sing, cuckoo!
Seeds grow and meadows bloom
and the woods spring anew
Sing cuckoo!”
The parody is by Ezra Pound. It goes like this
“Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham
Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, ’tis why I am, Goddamm,
So ’gainst the winter’s balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.”
I'll let you translate Pound's version. Aside from the fact that South Dakota winter's can provide photogenic frost, such as in these three photos, I feel largely like Ezra does about this season.
*You are really dedicated if you are reading this footnote. God bless you. And here's why there's a footnote: This strange letter existed in Old English alphabet and is called a "thorn." It is a diphthong (it's unlikely you'll see this word again today) and has the "th" sound.
Various Canon DSLRs