Turning Back the Clocks

83 Replies

In the still of Sunday,
I hear the tick of clocks,
Reminding me that time has been reset,
Back to the older hour.
Daylight saving is no more.
I am released to spend my thrift with time.

Like so, with flowers and verse…..

Sasanqua Camellia
Verses
White on White
A Collection
Potato Vine

 

Roads  (an excerpt)

by New Zealand poet,  Ruth Dallas (1919-2008)

Once it was difficult to keep to roads,
Ditches harboured nameless flowers, and sometimes
There were frogs and tadpoles in cold ponds.

Nowhere. The roads led nowhere then, and time
Was safely shut inside the clock at home.

Now to put time back inside the clock,
Now to be able to forget the signposts,
To rediscover pond and nameless flower.

 

from An Anthology of New Zealand Verse, Selected by Robert Chapman and Jonathan Bennett,  published by Oxford University Press, 1956, purchased from St Christopher’s  new Dove Bookshop near St Paul’s on Harewood Road.

© silkannthreades

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83 thoughts on “Turning Back the Clocks”

  1. melodylowes

    Balm to the soul, to see fresh flowers. I know it won’t be long for me, now. I sit and watch snowflakes sift their way to a frozen earth, and know that the season to grow is coming!!!

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  3. shoreacres

    The photos and poetry are just lovely. I have an inordinate affection for white flowers, and these are gorgeous. And of course I loved the mention of frogs in the poem!

    Time “changes” are a strange thing for me, since I work by the sun, not the clock. Now that we have our daylight savings time, I don’t quit work until much later in the day – generally around 6 or 6:30. I ry and have dinner ready or at least partly ready before I leave for work in the morning, or I end up eating at 8 p.m. Too late for me!

    When we set the clocks back and get that “extra” hour, I always save mine, and use it when I choose. Of course it’s a little quirky and doesn’t really give me any extra time, but I still enjoy playing with it.

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      I am very glad you do play with it (time) and enormously glad that you can work by the sun, not the clock. That seems a more natural way to live; one that is more suitable to our minds and bodies.

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  6. Pingback: Creative Interlude or a City at Play | silkannthreades

    1. Gallivanta Post author

      WordPress thought it was strange, too. I was trying to schedule a post, and failing, until I realised that WordPress wasn’t taking in to account the end of our daylight saving time.

      Reply ↓
      1. Steve Schwartzman

        If you go to your WordPress dashboard and look in the left margin, there’s a choice called Settings (it has an icon of a square with one arrow pointing up and another down). There you can designate your current local time. I don’t see a setting that will adjust it automatically each spring and autumn, probably because there are too many local variances around the world, but making the adjustment manually twice a year isn’t too onerous.

        Reply ↓
  10. Sheryl

    It’s interesting how different countries shift to daylight savings time on different dates. It’s really confusing to try to figure out how far ahead (or behind) my time zone is in relation to other countries since the number of hours difference varies across the course of a year.

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  11. Miss Lou

    The pictures are beautiful – clear and vibrant, almost like the flowers at the peak are opening up and the centres are reaching up to find some sun.

    The poems are lovely too, the second made me consider time past and how things used to be, before we got too smart for our own good and began to consume our time and lives almost entirely with technology…

    Thanks for sharing

    ML
    xx
    ♥

    Reply ↓
  13. Letizia

    Now to put time back inside the clock,
    Now to be able to forget the signposts,
    To rediscover pond and nameless flower.

    I love those lines. Thank you for introducing me to this poet.
    I always like changing the clocks. It reminds me to pay attention to the morning and evening light….

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      Ruth Dallas is a new poet to me but I do like what I have read of hers, so far. For much of my life, I lived in countries
      where there was no ‘changing clocks’ /daylight saving, so changing the clocks is a chore that I still find hard to enjoy. I must try your positive attitude. 🙂

      i

      Reply ↓
  14. greenlightlady

    The second poem makes me so glad that our children got to spend so many years in the country before we moved to town. I love the white flowers!

    Blessings ~ Wendy ❀

    Reply ↓
  16. coulda shoulda woulda

    I think we went forward last week in fact. There is still a bit of friction between Scotland and England about the daylight hours though as they get the sun at least an hour earlier so they would like to change their clocks but let’s see what happens if Scotland does decide to leave the Union!! glad you are back too 🙂

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  18. Clanmother

    I have been thinking a great deal about time lately. We live in an existence structured by time that is always moving forward. Wouldn’t it be interesting to bank time from one day to the next, to lengthen or shorten our days as required? “Now to put time back inside the clock” – this is a powerful thought, almost a challenge that humanity can defy time by simply using it more wisely.

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      Perhaps we can defy it, or use it more wisely, or more fully. Says she, hopefully, as she realises it will be dark in another hour and a bit, and she has only just put out the last of the washing!!! But I have read poems and the newspaper, listened to the radio, admired the flowers, read lovely blogs and, now, I will make apple sauce. What does it matter if one is late with the laundry???? 😀 If we can find a way to bank time, I will be an investor 😉 .

      Reply ↓
  20. ladysighs

    I don’t mind the changes in time as I don’t have to be anywhere or do anything when the change occurs. But it takes such effort to change the time in the car. We have to get out the booklet and never can remember which button is which. Usually waste a half hour trying to figure it all out. 😦 And each birthday it gets harder and harder to figure anything out. lol I don’t have a lot of half hours left to be a wasting.

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      I gave up trying to change the car clock years ago! I don’t bother with some of the other clocks in the house either. Just too many of them. As long as I have at least one clock or watch to tell me what time it is, I’m happy.

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  21. Lavinia Ross

    Thank you for a beautiful post, in pictures and in words!

    We went through Daylight Saving Time early this year, back in March. Cat stomach clocks never change though! They want feeding precisely at food o’clock…

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  22. KerryCan

    Just as your days shorten, ours lengthen–it’s such a relief to have the sun up early, although I still beat it! I worry less and less about the time of day and more and more, I find, by how quickly the days pass–so much I want to fit in . . .

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    1. Gallivanta Post author

      The remainder (which I didn’t quote) of the Ruth Dallas poem speaks about that increasing speed of each passing day. I woke this morning with so much to do. I will be lucky if I get one or two things off my list before the end of day. But I will TRY not to fret about it.

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  23. lensandpensbysally

    Yes, our clocks are now on “Eastern Standard Time,” which means we have more sunlight at the beginning and end of the day. These human interventions are more oddities of control. I agree that it wreaks havoc with one’s inner timing. Lovely post and lovely dive into poetry.

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      I like your expression “oddities of control”. The more I look into daylight saving, the more it seems to be just that; a means of control. Originally I think it was intended for the benefit of the worker, and that was a good thing.

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  24. YellowCable

    I did not know that different regions do have different day light saving time setting days. Personally, I am always confused but such arrangement each time this occurs (mentally and physically). 🙂

    Lovely arrangement of lowers in the vase. They are all white and I think there are more than one kind.

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      Time changes for daylight saving can be exhausting. I find it takes about a week to adjust properly. And you are right about the flowers; I have 3 different kinds in the vase.

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  25. Sharon Webber

    I did love your other days baby photos I spent time looking at that cute little face seeing the face of you I still see, what a gorgeous little girl you were and the apple of your parents eye

    Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2014 04:07:38 +0000 To: sharindi@hotmail.com

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      I am very glad we have clocks but, sometimes, I do get overwhelmed by their incessant time-keeping. I have tried living without them but that is hard too. We, humans, do seem to have an inherent need to know the time.

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  32. dadirri7

    a perfect poem, I hate teaching the 4yr old about time and days and weeks … poor little one, but she has to live in this society where we are run by clocks … oh to go back back to the days of mother’s voice calling when it was time for tea!

    Reply ↓
    1. Gallivanta Post author

      Ah yes…that call to come to tea, and was I ever ready for it! Your mention of the 4 year old made me smile. There is a little one next door, and this morning her voice came over the fence, counting over and over again, up to 5, sometimes with the help of her father. It was delightful, listening to the excitement of learning to count. And I, although I have changed the clocks, have not worn my watch today…..a small rebellion, perhaps.

      Reply ↓
  34. Juliet

    Nice poem, Gallivanta, and welcome back from your rambles. The day the clock goes back marks quite a seasonal change for me. I’m going to miss those long golden evenings.

    Reply ↓

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