Eric's Walk

“And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,
She needs not June for beauty’s heightening.” ~Malcom Arnold


Yesterday, I went on another brief walk through the city. We had some time in the afternoon to go on a small tour and locate some of the libraries we would be using throughout the term here.

Among some of the sites I saw were Christ Church College, the Christ Church Cathedral which contained a beautiful stained glass of the Archangel Michael battling Satan, the Christ Church banquet hall, where student of the college get to eat every night (probably known more famously for a scene in Harry Potter), and Magdalen College where C.S. Lewis was a professor and where he would often walk by the River Cherwell. I found a plaque dedicated to him which contained the lyrics to a somewhat famous poem by Lewis.






What the Bird Said Early in the Year

I heard in Addison's Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.
Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.
This year time's nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.
This time they will not lead you round and back
To autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.
This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.
Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick! -- the gates are drawn apart.
~C. S. Lewis, 1898-1963