White blossoms bloomed on our pear tree just before the last freeze. Today is cloudy, cool and gray but the lovely white bridal wreath and spirea are blooming like delicate white lace. Both are beautiful but don’t ask me which is which! The yellow daffodils are gorgeous all over our yard, pasture, and throughout Mississippi countryside. Spring? Late February and early March a lovely time to live in the South. Also dangerous storms brew.
Still Snowing in the North
Consider this. My Illinois brother had seven-and-a- half inches of fresh heavy snow and had to scrape it off his car to go to work. Give me the South, even though this time of year we have winter, spring and summer all in one week sometimes!
Ponder Poetry
A suggestion. While finishing this Winter and waiting for Spring, consider poetry! Yes, get out an old poetry book, buy a new one, check one out from the library or browse on your smart phone! Slowly savor a few lines …now…or at bedtime. Reading poetry will slow you down. Don’t read to complete the page…but read to enjoy the words and ideas and visual images. Several years ago I attended a Winter retreat where we heard poetry read aloud after dinner each night. No television, no cell phones, only calm conversation and soft music. Then a poetry reading before bedtime. A lovely respite. When I returned to the airport and changed planes, I noticed all the noise. I wasn’t even attracted (for that short time) to the shopping stalls and malls filled with merchandise. When I returned home I wanted to again read poetry. “That’s fine with me,” my husband said. I got out a beloved book of poetry and read to Bill every night…for a time.
Springtime in the South
I look outside now through my large office window to the silhouette of bare tree limbs showing the structure underneath and buds swelling, just waiting to burst into spring green. I can see a beautiful redbud. My heart leaps up not only to behold rainbows as the poet wrote, but to view any beauty in nature. Have you read the nature poems of William Wordsworth? Christina G. Rossetti is delightful! I love the crisp, concise poem, “Dreams” by Langston Hughes? Do you know the wonderful varied work of Robert Frost? I looked up “To Daffodils” by Robert Herrick but also noticed these poignant lines: “And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying.” Herrick is the poet of the familiar, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Time’s a ‘fleeting.” Choose to enjoy this day! I love cut flowers. Roses all year. This time of year: jonquils and tulips. Spring blossoms. But when cut flowers have to be thrown out, I love to remember a phrase of comfort by the poet-prophet, Isaiah: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but God’s Word stands forever.” Cut flowers are beautiful but as Elton Trueblood wrote, “We are a cut flower generation. No roots!” Browse in the songbook of the Bible written mainly by David, the shepherd-king.
A Favorite of Mine
In your busy life today…make time for a few lines of a poem? Here’s a favorite of mine by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God
But only he who sees takes off his shoes
The rest sit round it picking blackberries!”
You may have noticed. 2012 had an extra day this year! It’s Leap Year! So as you wait through storms and wait for Spring, read Psalms, hymn lyrics, or poetry! Joy! Love, Nana o/`
