Sunday, January 22, 2012

a thousand springs

Winter in Blue River arrived hard on the heels of a frosty Autumn. Snow fell and fell and fell it seems.
Before long we were running on the crust of the snow over the garden far below, over the fence, and scaling the Himalayas lining the narrow streets; towering banks of snow thrown high by a grader.
Spring was more than an abstract concept. It was a release from the grip of cold and snow.
Winds sweetened. Air warmed and snow began to melt. And it melted and melted.
Slushy water pooled and widened and pussy willows appeared.
Lighter Indian Sweaters were donned, and that brief interval between the season of snow and the season of mosquito was revelled in.
Swollen green leaf buds unfurled.
Birds returned in a flurry.
Spring!
The seasonal changes here on the coast are gentler, almost unobserved some years. Snow can be elusive, and when it does blanket the ground, it is only a brief time it seems, before it shrinks away as the warm wind inhales.
The grass is bared but another moment of winter may be waiting in the wings.
We have a thousand springs here.

2 comments:

  1. Finally, a post about Spring! I love Spring. The poet Percy Shelley said, If winter comes can spring be far behind?

    ReplyDelete
  2. "And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
    rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."
    Those Victorian poets really had a way....

    ReplyDelete