Spring is "springing". The season keeps us alert to its capriciousness : clear blue skies and warming temps, then the next day, snow accumulates to 5 and 6 inches in the western part of the state. At an outdoor graduation ceremony one May, faculty and students found that our academic paraphernalia failed to keep us warm. So often the joys of Springtime are delayed by the mud and the muck.
Do you remember the childhood rhyme "April showers bring May flowers" ? In our area, "May" came early with an extravaganza of colors.
What do you call these yellow beauties? Once named "Buttercups" now more often identified as "Jonquils" and "Daffodils" , they adorn lawns, woodlands, and bare spots all over our region. This year several varieties provided an array of coloration. Now they are gone and the large oaks in the background have their early foliage. Our automobile, usually a shade of blue, now carries a bright yellow hue. Can you say "pollen"or "allergy" and "SNEEZE" !
Now the dogwoods, the azaleas, the forsythia, along with other vegetation have turned the landscape into a riot of color and beauty. Just a few short weeks ago, this was the view:
Spring means a returning to life from often-frozen, dreary places. Just as there is a Winter of the calendar of the seasons, there can be a 'Winter of the Soul' when life's necessities such as Hope, Renewal,New Life, etc. seem to be hiding or even 'missing in action'. For Christians (of many 'varieties') Easter's observation in Spring bespeaks the Resurrection of Jesus.
Today I bought a volume of the late Mary Oliver's poems and this snippet from "Whistling Swans" summarizes what many are longing for in this time of many fears, hurts, wars, biases:
"Rumi said, There is no proof of the soul.
But isn't the return of spring and how it
springs up in our hearts a pretty good hint ?
(Mary Oliver, "Whistling Swans" in Devotions: The Collected Poems of Mary Oliver, page 6)
Satchel
