Ode to Spring

 Ah, how my heart aches for the long-anticipated return of spring, my favorite season. Though winter brings long, dark and cozy nights, her cold drains the life from the world. With the theft of warmth trees rescind to thin bony fingers protruding crookedly from amongst discolored grass and dried leaves, and icy winds sting at exposed skin. By February the festive joy for the holiday season has long-since faded into a distant memory, replaced by a loathing for the seemingly ever-lasting chill that necessitates heaters and thick jackets. For many summer is the favorite time of year, a polar contrast to the darkness of January and December that heralds holidays from work, days spent resting by the oceanside, a season where everything glows a rich and brilliant gold lit by the rays of the sun. 

But with spring comes change, change in everything everywhere as the earth is restored with life, marking her return with unparalleled beauty. As the days slowly, almost unnoticeably become longer, the whole world around us undergoes the most stunning metamorphosis as if it's an organic clockwork contraption whose key has been wound up for months and then simply released. In winter the world is so very quiet save for long grass swaying in the whistling wind - then suddenly, by some innate biological timer, the birds come back and bring with them their songs that seem to never stop, chirping from rooftops of in amongst trees in a choir of thousands. In the fields of my home county new life abruptly surrounds those seemingly-dead trees that survived winter's harsh passing. Lambs newly-born populate the landscape, dancing and leaping through the fresh meadow grass undoubtedly overwhelmed by their first experience of life. Rabbits and hedgehogs and bees finally appear back to the places they belong, from mossy dry stone wall to pastures' edge new shoots and flowers of all kinds sprout to bask in the brightness of the high sun. The trees that once sat bare and silent mere weeks prior teem with insect life and blossom proudly in so many wonderous colors! Pink, white, lilac, their rainbow display a shining sign to the world that summer is fast approaching.

And in late spring; April, May, my truly most-loved time of year, the cold has finally been shaken for good. It's warm and bright, the saplings and buds have grown into gorgeous flowers. In the warming days people walk in mother nature's embrace, the rain falling on slate rooves in brief April showers is reminiscent of fingernails lightly rapping on a countertop. The adventures of summer await us just around the corner.