Be Glad, Don’t Wait
April 7, 2015
Another Spring
by Christina Rossetti
If I might see another Spring
I’d not plant summer flowers and wait:
I’d have my crocuses at once
My leafless pink mezereons,
My chill-veined snow-drops, choicer yet
My white or azure violet,
Leaf-nested primrose; anything
To blow at once, not late.
If I might see another Spring
I’d listen to the daylight birds
That build their nests and pair and sing,
Nor wait for mateless nightingale;
I’d listen to the lusty herds,
The ewes with lambs as white as snow,
I’d find out music in the hail
And all the winds that blow.
If I might see another Spring –
Oh stinging comment on my past
That all my past results in ‘if’ –
If I might see another Spring
I’d laugh today, today is brief
I would not wait for anything:
I’d use today that cannot last,
Be glad today and sing.
Delft plate with windmills
“In the Month of July” showing a windmill on a polder waterway by Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriel, Rijksmuseum collection
Think of Holland and you think of windmills and the distinctive blue and white of Delft pottery. We saw both by using Amsterdam as a base for daytrips to the town of Delft and to Zaanse Schans.
There are over 1150 working windmills in the Netherlands. Zaanse Schans, a short bus ride (bus 391) from Amsterdam, is a “living history” destination with the opportunity for a close-up look at several old windmills.
The windmills of Zaanse Schans
By covering the blades with canvas, the windmill catches more wind.
We took the train from Amsterdam Centraal to Delft. The train, filled with commuters going to the Hague, was a smooth, quiet ride. We saw a few fields of yellow daffodils from the train windows.
The central train station in Amsterdam
Commuters reading the newspaper on the train
Fields of yellow daffodils
Audrey and I both loved Delft. On the day we visited, there was a general market in the main square, an outdoor flower market, and a flea market. Our main activities there were strolling, looking, and nibbling.
“The Little Street” by Johannes Vermeer showing a street in Delft, from the Rijksmuseum collection
Shop selling Delftware
Craftsman at one shop demonstrating the art of Delft painting
Detailed painting
Delftware with tulips
At the Delft flower market
Delft flower market
So many cheese shops, Delft and everywhere in Holland
Rhubarb for sale at a green grocer in Delft
Old windows, Delft
Stone surface in the market square, Delft
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer with kaleidoscope effect. Vermeer was born in Delft.
Another view from the train window on the ride back to Amsterdam
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