Tag: spring

Happy May Day

Out of winter comes spring, and out of darkness comes light.

Happy May Day, everyone! I definitely feel like I need to come out of the darkness. I’ve decided to share a lovely spring poem by Wordsworth, which is both sweet and melancholy and seems fitting right now. Of course, don’t forget my alma mater’s May Day tradition, so eloquently expressed by our beloved Professor Bennett Lamond, who sadly passed away last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjjBgtvrQNY

Lines Written in Early Spring
by William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:—
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

Spring has sprung

You know winter has been bad when even this snow lover is longing for spring. At last, it looks like spring has finally arrived here in the Mid-Atlantic, and this time I’m hoping it’s for good.  March was dreary and cold and not to mention hectic. I hate to admit that I failed the March writing challenge to write every day, but there you go. I did well for about the first week and after that things went downhill. One of those “life gets in the way” situations.

I’m going to be optimistic about April. Spring is a time for new beginnings and renewal. The sun has been shining, flowers and trees are blooming, and inspiration is taking hold.

So I leave you with one of my favorite spring poems. My English professor loved to share his rendition of leaping lambs as he read this to us in class. This is definitely one to be read aloud.

Spring
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
(from The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins)

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,

Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.