It is spring again and I welcome it. September 1st is the first day of spring and also wattle day and what wonderful trees I see lining the roadsides to Armidale and to Uralla where I go each week. I am lucky to have several kinds of wattle on my own land and they never fail to bring hope and delight into my life. In Primary school my teacher taught the class child Henry Kendall's poem September in Australia. I wonder if children somewhere are learning it this year? My memory has faded but the lines I loved are

September, the maid with the swift, silver feet

⁠She glides, and she graces

The valleys of coolness, the slopes of the heat,

⁠With her blossomy traces;

Here is a link on the internet for the full poem https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Poems_of_Henry_...

Dorothea MacKellar also wrote a poem called September. This month the Dorothea McKellar poetry awards have been presented and an astounding 7,600 poems were submitted by children. It is wonderful to hear that poetry is still an important part of the school curriculum. Here is the link to read about the winners and their poems. https://www.dorothea.com.au/award-winners

Read some of the poems written by the children. They will bring some spring sunshine into your life.

Tags: climate, culture, environment, nature