Treasure: Around the Year
September
Dear apple, on your branch,
please fall into my hat.
For if I take you off the tree,
They’ll not be pleased with that!Apples red and apples green,
please fall down upon the ground.
For if I pick you off the tree,
I cannot say how you’ve been found.Apples here and apples there,
please fall into my hand.
My little sisters stand and stare
and wait for you to land.Hips and haws and thistles tall
stand all around the tree.
All will soon be picked and stored.
Is there not just one for me?Apples, apples, everywhere,
please let me have just one,
and just two more, please, tree,
then September will be done.
Goodness, I cannot wait to go to Apple Hill!
I am not the only one in love with Elsa Beskow books—they are practically as much a staple in the Waldorf world as fresh bread and vegetable barley soup. And I’ll also admit that I love this book, Around the Year, more than my children do, partly because I appreciate poetry and they’re not quite so keen on it, and partly because they simply don’t pay too much attention to the months of the year. They live in the moment and experience what’s now. But that’s why these month poems by Beskow are great, in my opinion. They capture the quality and feeling of each month from a child’s perspective. I think this book is a keeper, meaning it might just be delightful to my kids for many years, rather than something they’ll quickly outgrow.
