Going And Staying

                         I

The moving sun-shapes on the spray,

The sparkles where the brook was flowing,

Pink faces, plightings, moonlit May,

These were the things we wished would stay;

        But they were going.

                         II

Seasons of blankness as of snow,

The silent bleed of a world decaying,

The moan of multitudes in woe,

These were the things we wished would go;

        But they were staying.

                         III

Then we looked closelier at Time,

And saw his ghostly arms revolving

To sweep off woeful things with prime,

Things sinister with things sublime

        Alike dissolving.

Thomas Hardy

Kitten Update

The children are busy enjoying the very hot New Zealand Summer. It’s been a bit too warm for us all although they’ve always spent so much time snoozing that it’s hard to tell whether it’s because of the heat or just because they are lazy lions. We suspect the latter.