Long Hot Summer

Nasturtium in disorder twigs
the've all moved on, even the young called
Get-off-that-bed! She's never sprinkled;
the borders going to the dogs;
at Surfers', oiled and dunked and eyed
and grilled, girls make for drinks and shade.

Judith Rodriguez

I received one answer and will let you know when another arrives. It is believed to be a shortened, slang version of making tracks. Informal as to go, depart, in a hurry towards something, or away from something. The girls are getting drinks and going to drink them in the shade.

From Australian Poet Library
The Macquarie Dictionary has the following definitions:



24. (US) to accomplish by travelling, etc.: to make one hundred kilometres an hour.

25. to arrive at or reach: to make a port.

Another week of 100*F plus, brains are boiled, so started yearning for Fall.



The Autumn

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1833)


Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them —
The summer flowers depart —
Sit still — as all transform’d to stone,
Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beneath the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth
That flesh and dust impart:
We cannot bear its visitings,
When change is on the heart.
Gay words and jests may make us smile,
When Sorrow is asleep;
But other things must make us smile,
When Sorrow bids us weep!

The dearest hands that clasp our hands, —
Their presence may be o’er;
The dearest voice that meets our ear,
That tone may come no more!
Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,
Which once refresh’d our mind,
Shall come — as, on those sighing woods,
The chilling autumn wind.

Hear not the wind — view not the woods;
Look out o’er vale and hill —
In spring, the sky encircled them —
The sky is round them still.
Come autumn’s scathe — come winter’s cold —
Come change — and human fate!
Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,
Can ne’er be desolate.

Re: The Autumn - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Take heart, NAP 2614... the temps will soon moderate as the colors of Autumn don their robes.
Wonderful analogy of life's cycle - the changing seasons, as life itself, indicates things never remain the same.
Thanks again, for a lovely selection!

Re: Chanson d'Automne -Paul Verlaine

Another analogy..simple yet descriptively poignant.
Thank you, alged!
[Thanks also for free translators] See translation below:

The long sobs
Of Autumn
Wound my heart
With a monotonous
Languor.

All choked
And pale, when
The hour chimes,
I remember
Days of old
And I cry

And I'm going
On an ill wind
That carries me
Here and there,
As if a dead leaf.

Here's another take on Autumn by William Blake.

To Autumn

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

"The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust'ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather'd clouds strew flowers round her head.

"The spirits of the air live on the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees."
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;
Then rose, girded himself, and o'er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

Ah, Autumn Leaves. Merveilleux! Definitely a classic!
Yves Montand - Les Feuilles Mortes

Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Yves Montand sang
"soul songs" that put wings to my heart
Enjoyed a concert last November at Carnegie Hall.
It was a program of songs made famous by Edith Piaf.
btw Leonard Cohen, a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist
is another multi-talented artist. A sample - here