Today
the snow falls again, lazy flakes that blow this way and that on their way to
the ground, coating the road once again and covering the rooftops of the houses.
From my office window, I see the ceramic birdhouse swinging from the eaves of
the workshop, in tune with in the wind.
I ache for spring to
arrive, for the snow to melt, for the first plant shoots to emerge from the
ground. I’m tired of winter, though a bright sunny day in January or February,
with fresh snow on the trees and ground, looks quite lovely.
Even as I write, the
wind picks up and blows the snow across the yard before it clears again. If the
groundhog really were a determiner of when winter ends, he is surely wrong this
year. Perhaps it is that I’m tired of the cold, ready to shed winter boots and
heavy coats, ready for warmth, and to put away snow shovels. Besides, the
calendar says it’s spring, even if it doesn’t look like spring outdoors here
yet.
I look forward to seeing the first
flower stems emerge from the ground and standing with my neighbours outdoors chatting.
Except for shovelling snow, going outdoors to start up their cars and going to work, so many of them have stayed in their homes all winter. In spring, the snowbirds
return too—those folks who flee to Florida for the winter months.
Solomon wrote, “Flowers
appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is
heard in our land.” He understood the
reawakening that comes at this time of year, even if he’d never experience cold
like our Canadian winter.
Spring has always been my favourite time
of year, when creation is so full of promise. It’s entirely appropriate that
Easter falls in the early spring. If winter is associated with sorrow, then
cannot spring associate itself with rebirth and … spring fever? The kind that
gets us out of our homes and in the open more freely, the time when children
get out their skipping ropes and ball gloves and enjoy the sunshine on their
faces. The time for adults to also feel a new spring in their step, and in tune
with nature.
Spring is coming soon, I just know it, and
I’ll be ready.
Carolyn Wilker, author, editor and storyteller
www.carolynwilker.ca
Carolyn Wilker, author, editor and storyteller
www.carolynwilker.ca
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2 comments:
Carolyn, you describe the yearning that I (and probably many of us) feel by this time of year for the kinder days of spring awakening. Delightful.
I love that portion from Song of Songs, which has long held a warm place in my heart, with its beautiful, poetic language ... sublime. :)
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Your story reminded me of how I look forward to each season. Spring, I wait for the first buds to poke thru the ground,and the smell of the earth. Summer for the warmth, the long days,sitting out on my deck and just enjoying life. Then Fall, the gorgeous colors, warm days and cool evenings and life getting back to routine. Winter, who doesn't anticipate that first beautiful snowfall? And now I am tired of winter and eagerly awaiting for the outside to know that the calendar says Spring.:)
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