A Walk in the Woods is Good for the Soul

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First, frequent visitors to my blog may note that I'm playing with some new templates. I liked the old template at first but had begun to feel that the page items felt jumbled together. So I'm trying some new things. Let me know what you think about the changes!

There are no words to describe how beautiful spring is here. These few pictures cannot describe it to you, either because in order to fully appreciate the warm breeze, the new leafings and the greening of the ground, you must first endure the long winter that preceeds them.

This winter was particularly grueling. We did not have very many days of extreme cold but we had lots and lots of snow and freezing rain and sleet. We had several thaws which left us with dirty snowbanks beside the road and drab, spongey snow on lawns and fields. The sky was overcast most days from November to March. It was a dark and drizzley winter, a drab and depressing winter.











Now we are receiving our reward in the form of an early spring. The leaves are coming on, the cowslips have blossomed, tulips and daffodils are up (my husband is happily categorizing homeowners into daffodil haves and have-nots as he drives to work every day) and skunk cabbage and trilliums are making their appearances in the woods.

In honor of this quickening, here is one of my favorite poems - The Botticellian Trees by William Carlos Williams (aka. Bill Carl Bill in our house).












The Botticellian Trees

The alphabet of
the trees

is fading in the
song of the leaves

the crossing
bars of the thin

letters that spelled
winter

and the cold
have been illuminated

with
pointed green

by the rain and sun -
The strict simple

principles of
straight branches

are being modified
by pinched-out

ifs of color, devout
conditions

the smiles of love -
. . . . . .

until the stript
sentences

move as a woman's
limbs under cloth

and praise from secrecy
quick with desire

love's ascendancy
in summer -

In summer the song
sings itself

above the muffled words -

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