Spring

Behold, my friends, the spring is come;

the earth has gladly received

the embraces of the sun,

and we shall soon see

the results of their love!

— Sitting Bull

I have rarely longed for a calendar date

as much as I have longed for this one.

In the midst of this particular winter,

the first full day of spring has been the one beacon

that kept me plodding forward. 

Awake, thou wintry earth - 

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!

—Thos. Blackburn

I am eager to get my hands dirty in the soil,

to let the smell of the earth fill my senses,

as I clear away the last of winter's detritus

and let the green shoots find their way into the light. 

Spring shows what God can do

with a drab and dirty world.

—Virgil A. Kraft 

Drab and dreary is certainly how our winter ended,

like a lady who stayed too long at the fair,

her gown sodden and dusty. 

Every spring is the only spring -

a perpetual astonishment.

— Ellis Peters

But now there will be color and light

and the gradual revelation of green, growing things,

and birdsong in the trees each day,

and a sense, as Browning once said,

that all is right with the world. 
 

How marvelous that we get to feel this way each year.

What a miracle of hope's triumph

and the soul's persistent optimism.