"June"

 Yesterday I woke thinking of those lines from Hosea: “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”  But sitting at my computer I again Googled the song. “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” and my mood changed. The show Carousel is largely a tragedy, but this song is joyful. I encourage everyone to listen to all eight minutes and forty-four seconds. If it doesn’t bring a smile, nothing will. And it introduces this brief essay (460 words), celebrating the new month.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

More Essays from Essex

“June”

June 1, 2024

 

“And what is rare as a day in June?

Then, if ever, come perfect days?”

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)

“June”

The Vision of Sir Launfal, 1848

 

It was June that was on Oscar Hammerstein’s mind when he wrote these lyrics for Carousel in April 1945:

 

“You can see it in the trees

You can smell it in the breeze.

Look around! Look around! Look around!

June is bustin’ out all over.”

 

On June 20th the earth’s northern hemisphere will have its longest day – the summer solstice – when the north pole reaches its maximum tilt toward the sun. For us, that date marks the start of summer, but for many in northern Europe, summer begins (or began) on the first of May, which explains why Shakespeare titled his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for the holiday still celebrated by some on the first Saturday after June 20^th. Today June 19^th is celebrated as Juneteenth, to commemorate the end of slavery.

 

June is named for the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and goddess of women, marriage and fertility. It is the month when trees are fully leafed and flowers in full bloom. While one can scientifically explain why animals hibernate and perennials re-blossom each spring, anyone who does not see the miracle in nature misses the magic of June. It is a time of renewal, when dreams become life.

 

June was the month when school days ended and summer vacation began, endless days when one was ten. It is the month for graduations, especially high schools and some colleges. It is among the top three months for weddings, the month when “young Virginia creepers/ Have been huggin’ the bejeepers/ Outta all the mornin’ glories on the fence,” and the “sheep aren’t sheepish anymore.” 

 

It was June when I started my first job out of college; it was the month in which I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves, and it was the month in which our third and last child was born. It was the month during which two of our children were married, and in which our youngest granddaughter and my father-in-law were born. It was in the month of June that two brothers and two sisters were married. And it was on June 10, 1908 that my grandfather Sydney M. Williams married my grandmother Mary P. Hunnewell.

 

In his 1906 collection of poems, Bird and Bough, John Burroughs (1837-1921) included the poem “June’s Coming:” 

“Now have come the shining days

When field and wood are robed anew,

And o’er the world a silver haze

Mingles the emerald with the blue.”

 

June has arrived, the month that fulfills life’s regenerative promise.