Come the Wild, Wild Weather

(Yellow Rose by Pierre-Joseph Redouté,
1759-1840, French botanist and watercolorist)

In the language of flowers, the yellow rose represents friendship.

COME THE WILD, WILD WEATHER

Time may hold in store for us
Glory or defeat,
Maybe never more for us
Life will seem so sweet.
Time will change so many things,
Tides will ebb and flow,
But wherever fate may lead us
Always shall we know —

Come the wild, wild weather,
Come the wind and the rain,
Come the little joy, come the pain,
We shall still be together
When our life’s journey ends,
For wherever we chance to go
We shall always be friends.

We may find while we’re traveling through the years
Moments of joy and love and happiness,
Reason for grief, reason for tears.
Come the wild, wild weather,
If we’ve lost or we’ve won,
We’ll remember these words we say
Till our story is done.

~ Noël Coward (1899-1973), English composer, playwright, actor, and singer; the lyrics of a song in his play Waiting in the Wings

Nothing Is Lost

(Celebration Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud,
born 1920, American artist)

Love or affection has its beginnings in the family, where it flourishes in the details.

NOTHING IS LOST

Deep in our subconscious, we are told,
Lie all our memories, lie all the notes
Of all the music we have ever heard
And all the phrases those we loved have spoken,
Sorrows and losses time has since consoled,
Family jokes, outmoded anecdotes
Each sentimental souvenir and token
Everything seen, experienced, each word
Addressed to us in infancy,
Before we could even know or understand
The implications of our wonderland.
There they all are, the legendary lies
The birthday treats, the sights, the sounds, the tears
Forgotten debris of forgotten years
Waiting to be recalled, waiting to rise
Before our world dissolves before our eyes
Waiting for some small, intimate reminder,
A word, a tune, a known familiar scent
An echo from the past when, innocent
We looked upon the present with delight
And doubted not the future would be kinder
And never knew the loneliness of night.

~ Noël Coward (1899-1973), English composer, playwright, actor, and singer