Quote of the Day (Philip Larkin, on Summer and Fall)

“Too often summer days appear
Emblems of perfect happiness
I can't confront: I must await
A time less bold, less rich, less clear:
An autumn more appropriate.”—Philip Larkin, "Mother, Summer, I" from Collected Poems (1989)

Philip Larkin died before global warming; otherwise, the British poet might have thought twice about likening summer days with “perfect happiness.” And I, for one, would dispute the line about autumn being “less bold” than summer. Gaze at the multi-colored foliage of a fall day, and see how well his thinking on this really holds up.