Hello and welcome to Open Link Night at dVerse Poets Pub!

Here in southwestern Ontario, our weather has been a roller coaster of temperatures and precipitations. It makes me wonder what the birds are thinking. My poor crocuses came up one day and were covered in snow the next. Just yesterday it was so cold there were tiny snowflakes tapping on our windows. The next day my neighbours were mowing their lawns in shorts! As a child I don’t remember these fluctuations of weather in Spring. I do remember rain, lots of rain. I still hear the ancient phrase in my head, “April showers bring May flowers”. I thought I’d research the saying to see where it originated and it seems there are varying sources. One involves the following proverb first recorded in 1886….

Shortly after that, in 1901, A Book of Nursery Rhymes by Charles Welsh included the same line in a poem….

MARCH winds and April showers
Bring forth May flowers.

In April’s sweet month,
When leaves begin to spring,
Little lambs skip like fairies,
And birds build and sing.

en.wikisource.org

However In 1557, Thomas Tusser an English poet and farmer compiled a collection of writings titled “A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry” where he penned….

BUT lets go back further, shall we to the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, (drum roll please) the “father of English literature” himself, Geoffrey Chaucer. (wikipedia.com) Between 1387 and 1400, he wrote “The Canterbury Tales”, a compilation of 24 stories featuring various characters and classes of English society at that time. Written in Middle English dialect, the General Prologue began…..

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soot

The droghte of March hath perced to the root

poetryfoundation.org

Hmm….translation?

“When April with its sweet-smelling showers

Has pierced the drought of March to the root”

harvard.edu

Well there you have it….just a little bit of history, in case you were interested. Did you simply scroll? Well then you must be very eager to hop on the poetry trail to visit your fellow poets.

Enjoy!

Here’s how to join in:

• Write a poem in and post it to your blog.
• Enter your name and direct link to your poem into Mr. Linky.
• You will also find some other amazing poems. Please read and comment.
• Link back to dVerse so others can find us too!
• Drop in to say hello in our discussion below.
• Have fun!