Be touched by Spring

Ok, it's just settling into the depths of winter here, but isn't that the time we hope for Spring the most? We still have to get through the shortest day of the year (next week) and the coldest month of the year (July), but there are buds growing on my magnolia, and tiny leaf buds on my Japanese maple, and Spring is really only a hope away. If only we had the same certainty that our lives would be renewed, and move forward into fruitfulness when we are lost in the deepest polar night of our own frozen season !

Be Touched by Spring

Be touched by spring. Let every living tendril
Dressed in new green twine hope around your heart
Let tender sunlight brush your skin with promise
And welling laughter rise through every part.

Souls are not made for winter’s domination
The stern repression of the frozen mind
Stricturing growth and banishing all love-warmth
Till, wrapped secure we can’t touch our own kind.

Let us be open to the jubilation
Of the high clouds that dance across the sky
Nestling, like birds, the secret dreams we cherish,
Setting them free, so they can learn to fly.

Let us turn opened eyes of shy new wonder
Towards the blossoms glowing where, it seems,
As near as yesterday, the twigs were barren:
Such is the resurrection of our dreams.

Let us remember how to kneel in reverence
Owning it is a miracle we see
Those who can spend themselves in glad thanksgiving
Have known springtime and walk glad and free.