on spring
to renew and claw into hope amid the blurry chaos, reflections on the season with poems by E.E.Cummings, Amy Gerstler and Basho
A string of barren branches adorned with tiny buds, their stems quivering in the light. The spring buds, burst with vibrancy and new life. The sight of the daisies' petals, their delicate fragrance wafting through the fields, enchants me like a magician.
I walk a little further into the nearby playground. A tiny twig drops on my shoulder. I look up to find the busy parrots picking up branches from the willow to rebuild their nests. Everywhere I look around, I can hear the energy of renewal rustling through the trees.
Spring has finally arrived, bearing with her the scent of fresh growth. Despite the long, barren winter, it has arrived to charm us with its colours and changing scapes.
As the landscape transforms itself, it sings incantations of renewal. An invitation to take off the cloak of burden and stop for a while. To find a tiny moment and enjoy this changing sight. To feel the tenderness that envelopes all around us in nature.
There is no running away from the quagmires of reality. Emails can take a backseat for a few moments in the day. We can put the checklist that is pleading to be finished away. The seemingly endless parade of news and opinions that try to grab our attention will not go away anywhere. This is a time to find a few moments to offer our sacred presence back to nature and ourselves. A time to draw the light from the wellspring of nature. A sight so familiar and ordinary, yet everything feels anew.
Happy Spring.
A scene that offered itself as my muse for today’s edition.
The weather in London has been anything but spring, yet here I am trying to spread some cheer around this important part of the year. I am trying to live between the tiny patches of bloom that shine through the dull skies. I’ve been observing nature’s play and thinking of the gracious interchange between the givers and receivers. This grand act of renewal is communal. How beautifully do the elements of the ecosystem unite to remain undeterred through the seasonal progression?
Nature shows us the intricate truth of regeneration. The interconnectedness of all things through the forever metamorphosis of life. I’d like to wish this for our humankind. I wish for us to show gentleness and warmth, to notice and be compassionate even as we struggle in difficult times.
This spring day, I am embarking on a journey to rest for a bit, reflect and gain strength to renew parts of my life that have broken down time and again. To surrender and give up on a few parts that I have been trying to repair. To release and plant the seeds for new beginnings.
I am going to find time to paint, cook something nice, welcome new houseplants, and meditate in the woods.
This season, look around and offer your presence and uplift a friend, colleague, loved ones who might be on their journey of renewal.
I can’t help but include this beautiful quote by Victor Hugo shared by Maya Popa on her substack today. As different forms of crisis become a permanent fixture in the world at large, more love and kindness are what we need.
“If people did not love one another, I really don’t see what use there would be in having any spring.” - Victor Hugo
The poems that I selected to welcome spring are from some poets that I came across during my readings. Hope you enjoy them.
Wish you a Happy Spring Equinox. May this spring usher more of what you want for your life.
Spring is like perhaps a hand by E.E.Cummings Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while people stare arranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and changing everything carefully spring is like a perhaps Hand in a window (carefully to and fro moving New and Old things,while people stare carefully moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)and without breaking anything. In Perpetual Spring by Amy Gerstler Gardens are also good places to sulk. You pass beds of spiky voodoo lilies and trip over the roots of a sweet gum tree, in search of medieval plants whose leaves, when they drop off turn into birds if they fall on land, and colored carp if they plop into water. Suddenly the archetypal human desire for peace with every other species wells up in you. The lion and the lamb cuddling up. The snake and the snail, kissing. Even the prick of the thistle, queen of the weeds, revives your secret belief in perpetual spring, your faith that for every hurt there is a leaf to cure it. Haiku by Matusuo Basho The spring haze. The scent already in the air. The moon and ume. From dry winter to a little moist spring.
How reminiscent of a revival. Happy spring!
💗