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Quote by John Updike

“June The sun is rich And gladly pays In golden hours, Silver days, And long green weeks That never end. School’s out. The time Is ours to spend. There’s Little League, Hopscotch, the creek, And, after supper, Hide-and-seek. The live-long light Is like a dream, and freckles come Like flies to cream.”

Quote by John Updike

Work

A Child's Calendar

This book is a compilation of verses that capture the wonder and simplicity of a child's perspective on the natural world and the progression of the seasons. more

Author

John Updike
John Updike

John Updike was an American novelist known for his profound insights into middle-class life and his delicate narrative skills. His works spanned a wide range of genres from short stories to novels, including the classic 'Rabbit, Run' series and 'The Centaur'. more

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“The blackjack oak is a hard tree. I chopped ours down. Sitting to the side of our wooded acre. Standing 20-feet tall. The ax was old. Older than I was at the time. A weathered handle hurt the hands. A rusty head barely cut. Chipped away at the tree. Over hours. Over days. And the tree fell. A creak. A crack. A soft thud on sandy ground. My blistered hands dropped the ax. Tired legs limped away. Summers were long then. And trees fell.”

“Το καλοκαιρινό φουστάνι θροϊζει πάνω στη σάρκα των μηρών μου, το χορτάρι μεγαλώνει κάτω από τα πόδια μου, με την άκρη των ματιών μου διακρίνω κινήσεις στα κλαδιά.. φτερά, φτερουγίσματα, γλυκές νότες, το δέντρο γίνεται πουλί, μεταμόρφωση που ξεφεύγει από κάθε έλεγχο. Οι θεότητες είναι εφικτές αυτή τη στιγμή κι ο αέρας σφύζει από πόθο.”

“At whatever point I find myself in the seasons of my life, I want to make irrefutably certain that I have invested myself in the passing season in a manner so complete and uncompromising that I am able to send it off richer than how it had arrived. And in having done so, I want to be confident in the fact that I have set a firm and glorious stage upon which to welcome a new season now unfolding. For you see, seasons turn on what we’ve left behind. And so whatever that is, might it be the best of myself so that the coming season might be the best of itself, and we therefore might have a chance to make the world better than itself.”

“The first frost laid down a thin wafer-like crust of crystalline wonder on a waiting world. Instantly melting to the slightest touch, it heralded the seasons turning in a celebration of ‘what was’ in an anticipation of what ‘was to come’. For you see, God sends the frost of fall ahead of the snows of winter so that nature might be readied for the flowers of spring. And it is the anticipation of each that makes them fresh every time they arrive.”