Springing Forth

The open palm of desire

Wants everything

It wants everything

It wants soil as soft as summer

And the strength to push like spring.

Further to Fly, Paul Simon

This song has been playing on repeat in my head all weekend, especially the last line. The strength to push like spring. In that simple, poignant way that Paul Simon has with words he creates a picture and a feeling in one line. The strength to push like spring. Spring… How is it every year I develop a sort of spring amnesia? I can barely remember what it feels like to go outside barefoot and feel the warm sun on my arms. I can barely remember what my redbud looks like when it is in full bloom or the apple tree blossoms. And what exactly does it sound like to hear song birds in your back yard or the hum of those strange bees that try to burrow into the wood of our gazebo every year? And that spring scent, that hard fought for sweetness which can only be found in the Midwest?  It always seems like a dream at this time of year. And yet despite all indicators being to the contrary – the brown frozen ground, the bare trees, the snowflakes that swirled around me this morning – we know spring will come. Even before the first Robins appear and the crocuses pop up. Even before we note the lengthening of days, we know it will come. We have faith. We have faith that spring is strong enough to push through winter, that life will win out again in the cycle of our year. And even if Mother Nature appears to be turning a blind eye to the spring vernal equinox, we know she’ll come around eventually. We know, eventually, that winter must loosen its grip and give way to spring. The funny thing is we have absolutely no control over when that will be. We have no choice but to let it go and let it come.  But we are strong too, so we take a breath and we keep the faith as the strength of spring moves inward and pushes us along.