Dappled things

Pied Beauty

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89)

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You should have read this poem in the 8th grade. In case you missed it, or you didn't like poetry when you were 14, here it is again. Give it a try. There's a reason it's in every version of Norton's Anthology.

The trailer is hitched up to the gas-guzzling truck and I'm heading to Horse Camp #2 tomorrow morning. The weather has cooled off so much that I wore socks to bed last night. It was only in the low 60s, but I was freezing! It's hard to acclimate to cool when we've lived so long with heat and humidity. Tomorrow's ride should have perfect weather, what with temps in the mid 80s and it will only be in the upper 50s when I get up.

Hope you have exciting plans. Get outside and play. Fall is the best time of all.