May, Briefly

May begins merrily, flaunting doggerel, May Baskets, Maypole Dances, and ends on the somber occasion of Memorial Day. Between those two extremes are flowers and frost, military parades and protest marches, a wedding here and a birthday there, resolves and resignations, Mothers centerstage and politics as backdrop, sunshine and storms. May is a mad mixture of events and emotions; its turbulence diminishes and fades away into June.

To Michael and Trudy

On May 26 Michael R. Howard and Trudy M. Kueker were married. This is a little poem written by Francis Quarles (1592-1644) which states so beautifully our wishes for them.

Let all thy joys be as the month of May,
And all thy days be as a marriage day:
Let sorrow, sickness, and a troubled mind
Be stranger to thee.

Michael, thank you for bringing your beautiful bride, Trudy, into our family.

Hurrah, Hurrah, the First of May!

This is my yearly tribute to the month of May.

doggerel loosely styled and irregular in measure, esp. for burlesque or comic effect; also, marked by triviality or inferiority

Where Do They All Come From?

A little green man
in a fluffy yellow hat
underneath the rim
of a toadstool sat.

He twirled his finger
and he twitched his toe,
he looked at his watch
and said, "Time to go!"

He jumped to his saucer
and quickly spun away,
but he left his yellow hat
on the field of May.

Marguerite Louise

If you have ever tended a lawn, you are familiar with him.

There is another little piece of doggerel that is chanted each May 1 in this household:

Hurrah, hurrah, the First of May,
(Something, something) starts today!

Create your own doggerel - substitute your own words for those in the parentheses!