Images of May Day at Merry Mount

NOW the bright morning-star, Day’s harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire	5
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing;
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

                                                            - John Milton (1608-1674)

“Flowery May” has arrived at Merry Mount and she has strown various hues of green, gold, and purple across the landscape.

Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple

Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple
Leaping like Leopards to the Sky
Then at the feet of the old Horizon
Laying her spotted Face to die
Stooping as low as the Otter's Window
Touching the Roof and tinting the Barn
Kissing her Bonnet to the Meadow
And the Juggler of Day is gone

                                    -Emily Dickinson

While we do not have a maypole at Merry Mount (at least not yet), we do celebrate the first day of May and acknowledge an aura of merriment traditionally associated with May Day.  We encourage a wink, a kiss, a smooch, and perhaps a dance.

from The Lusty Month of May

Tra la, it's May, the lusty Month of May
That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray
Tra la, it's here, that shocking time of year
When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear

Whence this fragrance wafting through the air?
What sweet feelings does it's scent transmute?
Whence this perfume floating everywhere?
Don't you know, it's that dear forbidden fruit!

It's May! It's May!
The month of "yes you may,"
The time for ev'ry frivolous whim,
Proper or "im."

It's wild! It's gay!
A blot in ev'ry way.
The birds and bees with all of their vast
Amorous past
Gaze at the human race aghast,
The lusty month of May.

-       Alan Jay Lerner

from The Maypole of Merrymount, a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne

“May, or her mirthful spirit, dwelt all the year round at Merry Mount, sporting with the Summer months, and revelling with Autumn, and basking in the glow of Winter's fireside. Through a world of toil and care she flitted with a dreamlike smile, and came hither to find a home among the lightsome hearts of Merry Mount.”-Nathaniel Hawthorn

Have a Merry May Day!

CPW

Messages from a Mirror at Merry Mount

Good Morning Mirror,

Who do I see?

Not myself today,

But Mother and Dad,

Looking back at me.

-CPW

If I stop in the morning and study the image of myself in the mirror, I am surprised to see whose image is staring back at me.  In one glance, I see my Mother and yet from a slightly different angle I see Dad.  It occurred to me that perhaps both of them at some point had experienced the same phenomenon.  If so, do I have the ability to look in the mirror, to glance back into time and see characteristics from all my descendants?

Let’s explore just three generations.  Wow.  What a DNA soup exists in a period of only 158 years.  The magic mirror at Merry Mount can show me glimpses of:

Dad: Charles L. Woliver (b. May 21, 1927)

Mother: Dorsey Lou Justice Woliver (b. March 11, 1931)

Paternal Grandfather: Earnest William Woliver (b. April 8, 1903)

Paternal Grandmother:  Leona Baker (b. September 27, 1906)

Paternal Great Grandfather:  Alexander Woliver (b. October 5, 1877)

Paternal Great Grandmother: Edith Evelyn Huckleby (b. 1885)

(pictured far left)

Paternal Great Grandfather:  Isaac Lewis Baker (b. June 26, 1877)

Paternal Great Grandmother: Flora Bessie Knight (b. June 1, 1890) 

Maternal Grandfather: Ulis Justice (b. March 26, 1891)

Maternal Grandmother:  Lucinda Hayes Justice (b. July 7, 1893)

Maternal Great Grandfather: William Hayes (b. May 29, 1871)

Maternal Great Grandmother:  Mary Penina Golden Stallard 

(b. March 23, 1874)

Maternal Great Grandfather: William Patrick Justice (b. May 2, 1858)

Maternal Great Grandmother:  Elizabeth Lowe (b. June, 1870)

Heredity

When I was a child, all the neighbors said,   

             “He looks exactly like his father! ”

While back at home, said all my kin  

             “He looks exactly like his mother! ”

Then came the age I went to school   

            Teachers commented in perfect scroll

And wrote back then, “All things considered,    

            He is, in many ways, his sister! ”

So to home I scurried and found a mirror   

            To know which one was true, and what a wonder

And curious! Yet surprised I should not be   

            To find my father, mother, sister, all three—       

                       —staring back at me.

                                                            -Robert Uy

Oh Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,

Who will our son and daughter see?

Who will our twin granddaughters see?

When they each look into a magic mirror at thee?

I am the family face;

Flesh perishes, I live on,

Projecting trait and trace

Through time to times anon,

And leaping from place to place

Over oblivion.

The years-heired feature that can

In curve and voice and eye

Despise the human span

Of durance -- that is I;

The eternal thing in man,

That heeds no call to die

                                    -Thomas Hardy

 Be well and stay alert.  Who do you see in the mirror?

CPW