This is Episode 108 of Poems for the Speed of Life.

Today's poem is "Loveliest of trees, the cherry now" by AE Housman.

Alfred Edward or AE Housman was an English academic and poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His day-to-day work was in the study and translation of classical writers, including the Roman poets Juvenal and Lucan. Many of his poems in his two collections, A Shropshire Lad published when he was 27, and Last Poems, published when he was in his mid-60s, have been set to music by composers, and are still performed, especially in Britain, by soloists and choirs.

In the poem, written when he was 20, he predicts that his life would be "three score and ten" or 70 years long. In the end, he died at the age of 77 in 1936.

One of the things I took from this is how short a human life is in the context of the long centuries of the natural world, and how we should take the time and care to notice anything beautiful around us because our time to do so is fleeting.

You can read the poem here.

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For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠.

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Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com