The Dandelion by John Banister Tabb
With locks of gold to-day,
To-morrow, silver gray;
Then blossom-bald. Behold,
O man, thy fortune told!
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B.Ruth introduced me to this little poem last week when she left the following comments:
“Tipper,
Guess what this is? Then you will know what I remember about the first signs of Spring where I grew up as a child….
WITH LOCKS OF GOLD TODAY;
TO-MORROW, SILVER GRAY;
THEN BLOSSOM-BALD. BEHOLD,
O MAN, THY FORTUNE TOLD!”
and
“Tipper,
The answer was Dandelion…
We had gazillions of them in the Secret City…along walkways, drive ways, grassy medians, and lawns. One time a visitor from across the sea asked our local newspaper “What are those beautiful yellow flowers that bloom along all the sidewalks in your city?” In all her travels she had never seen anything so beautiful…In other words..one mans weed is another ones beautiful flower!
I remember helping spread the Dandelion seeds many times…as did all the children in the neighborhood…lol
The poem THE DANDELION was written by John Tabb”
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Follow this link to see how to make Dandelion Jelly.
Tipper
Tipper,
I also liked the poem
Have a blessed day!
Hi Tipper,down memory lane again,as children we use to hold a dandelion under another child’s chin,if there was a shadow that ment you liked butter.God Bless.
My dad use to make a dandelion salad. He would clean the leaves and then make some bacon, break it into small bits and mix it with the fat from frying it and eat it. We all ate it as kids. The dandelion was sometimes bitter, but the bacon helped it a lot. Yes, dandelions were a true sign of spring, even though they were a weed. My brother and I would blow the gray off the top and watch the particles float through the air.
Muskat ,I am also from the Eastern part of Kentucky , Bell Co.
I love this site too I can relate to so much of all the things people say and sing on here.
Thanks Tipper for what you are doing,you sure make a lot of smile everyday.
Muskat ,I am also from the Eastern part of Kentucky , Bell Co.
I love this site too I can relate to so much of all the things people say and sing on here.
Thanks Tipper for what you are doing,you sure make a lot of smile everyday.
Muskat ,I am also from the Eastern part of Kentucky , Bell Co.
I love this site too I can relate to so much of all the things people say and sing on here.
Thanks Tipper for what you are doing,you sure make a lot of smile everyday.
Muskat ,I am also from the Eastern part of Kentucky , Bell Co.
I love this site too I can relate to so much of all the things people say and sing on here.
Thanks Tipper for what you are doing,you sure make a lot of smile everyday.
Tipper,
After a good mowing, those dandelions really grow at night.
I think they’re shy, but I recon
I’ve blew away as many as most kids…Ken
Speaking of silver gray, my uncle Ralph moved across the mountain to go to work at the Secret City. Within a couple of years and although he was still a young man, his hair had turned from black to silver gray. None of his siblings’ (and there were many) hair turned that color. Those I remember didn’t even start showing any gray until their 50’s and then it was salt and pepper. My mother always said that it was something he did that turned his hair that color that quick but he wouldn’t talk about it. Other than his hair, everything about him seemed normal. Ralph was two years older than Mommy but outlived her by almost thirty years so whatever caused the premature gray much have had some beneficial side effects.
I love it!!! Thank you B. Ruth. Though I Hope baldness is not in my future.
When I was a kid, one of my neighbors had a big lawn and wanted it to be perfect, so he gave his boys a nickle for each dandelion plant dug from his yard. What a deal!
Perhaps you could include a series on dandelion recipes.
My daughter has tried to make dandelion salad but said even the young leaves were very tough and bitter.
My Great Grandmother encouraged me to release the fairies so they could fly home – much to the chagrin of my father and grandfather. Never knew who captured them or why the fairies couldn’t free themselves. Whatever the case I spent much of my later childhood and my teen years digging dandelions out of our yard and my grandparents yard.
Although my hair was never golden, I’m still digging dandelions out of my yard now that my hair is “silver-gray” and, unfortunately, getting a might bit thin.
Looks like I’m getting the silver gray part and the bald part all at once.
I have heard that they make a fine home brewed wine also, I have never tried it but have spoken with a few who have and they like it. Many people spend big money trying to remove Dandelions from their lawns, I think if we would just try to cultivate them they would develop some sort of blight and die on their own.
My favorite flower, especially when picked by a little one and presented to me in such a sweet way. They usually are the first sign the yard needs mowed.
Tipper,
I reckon one uses all the parts of a Dandelion but the “smell”, a ‘liken to the pig, all parts but the “squeal”!
I’ll be waiting on the Dandelion Jelly recipe!
Yes, I love the poet John Banister Tabb…an American/ Priest poet with a lot of thoughts about birds, flowers, trees and animals…and of course Godly poems…He went totally blind the last year of his life!
Thanks Tipper,
PS…beautiful day in the neighborhood yesterday and hopefully today…although very warm!
hot dog!…no…I mean HOT DOG!
finally a site that is just about
simple, fun stuff…and…I hope,
no hidden agenda(s)? My Ky family
has a get together in the fall on
top of one of those mtns in e. ky.
..in the old family cemetery..
so I am told…never been..but maybe this year I may go..God willing….I had a cousin…gone home now…who used to keep the old cemeteries clean and free of
growth….there were several of them…I live hundreds of miles away and cannot do what she used to….hope one of the young uns
will think about it and pick up
the work…and it is work….helped my cousin one summer…so I speak from sweat..
The more locks of gold I have, that’s just more Tipper’s Dandelion Jelly I can make!
Indeed, we did have a gazillion dandelions in the Secret City, to spread abroad, as kids! And clover, as well. Thanks for memories, b. Ruth-love the rhyme.
As our lawn began to turn green, I noticed an abundance of Dandelion blooms scattered throughout the grass. I chuckled when I remembered my grandsons blowing the seeds last year. Thought about having the boys root out the plants, but instead chose to enjoy the gold among the green.
B. Ruth mentioned the Secret City. My Mom worked in Oak Ridge from nearly the beginning, then Dad came there from Sylva, NC after leaving the Navy after the war. They met and married and I was born there in 1948.
All weeds live in only one place – our minds!
I have never heard that poem,surprisingly,because my grandma was always reciting little poems like that! Speaking of dandelions..I can’t wait for some greens. We love them in salads and with bacon and hard boiled eggs in a sour cream sauce..that right there is some fine eatin’!!
Yesterday I picked locks of gold from my yard before they had a chance to become silver-grey.