Even though we had a freeze warning last night and I had to dig up a sweater to go to work this morning, spring is definitely here. The pollen is out of control, and so are the flowers.
The daffodils are tall and bright, and to my delight, the tulips have bloomed. I love how they seek the sun — nothing says joy like a field of pretty flowers, ready to dance in the late afternoon breeze. Even Otis agrees.
Distraction kept me
from noticing the scene outside my window —
Green.
Everything green with new life.
It’s hard to imagine
a world that just
yesterday
sagged under dead leaves
and the colorless pall
of a long winter.
And now —
life.
When the cherry blossoms bloom around these parts, we have to run out and enjoy them immediately. They just suddenly bloom, everything is pink and beautiful, and the winds of spring invariably blow and they’re gone. Like pink snow, the petals fall and swirl around before disappearing.
It’s an ephemeral burst of life that comes every year.
My mother often calls these windy days in spring los vientos de cuaresma, the winds of Lent. I never gave it much thought since Lent and spring are, while not the same thing, certainly occurring at the same time.
And then I gave some deeper thought to the meaning of the wind blowing so insistently during Lent. What a fantastic presence of the Holy Spirit stirring up every nook and cranny in anticipation of Holy Week.
