Today by: Billy Collins

Today

Written by:

Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,

indeed rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

Take note of the negative connotation

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,

indeed rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

BUT WHY?

Escape

If ever there were a SPRING day so perfect,

Change

Transition from winter to spring

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,

indeed rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

into this larger dome of blue and white,

ending with a negative connotation, of still being cooped up.

Reasons?

Dome = Bird Cage

Canary = Writer

Candide

best possible situation

• the day

in the best possible world?

• in a cage?

thoughts that go against the system. OUT SMART

only one way (experience)

complete

cultivation

and the garden bursting with peonies

garden = writer

bursting= from the mold

with peonies= own ideas

GROWING free of outside influences

• FREEDOM

ruling your life = GOOD LIFE

Words to Know

Intermittent- stopping or ceasing for a time; alternately ceasing and beginning again:

Peonies- any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Paeonia, having large, showy flowers, as the widely cultivated species

Jamb- either of the vertical sides of a doorway, arch, window, or other opening.

Aspects of My Good Life

Signs of Spring

warm weather allowing you to feel free even while you are in a house

still transitioning from winter and it is not warm enough to heat the bricks & the flowers are just beginning to blossom.

represents the writer

you have to share a perfect day