The Wings of Spring

“Birds in the green of my garden,

Blackbirds and throstle and wren,

Wet your dear wings in the tears that are Spring’s

And so to your singing again!”

– E. Nesbit, “May Song” –

Nesbit’s poem reminds me of a quote from Victor Hugo: “Be like a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing that she has wings.”

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – a vase of peonies that a neighbor left for me on my porch:

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Whispering to the Crocus

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

…Winter still is in the air,

And the earth troubled, and the branches bare,

Yet down the fields to-day I saw her pass –

The spring – her feet went shining through the grass…

she has whispered to the crocus leaves…

She would not stay, her season is not yet,

But she has reawakened, and has set

The sap of all the world astir…

– John Drinkwater, “The Miracle” –

Listen for spring’s whisper, and breathe deeply of the quiet hope of a world astir.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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They Will Come Again

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“They will come again, the leaf and the flower . . .

Nothing is certain, only the certain spring.”

– Laurence Binyon –

“The Burning of the Leaves”

Take courage. Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. And carry the calm.

Nature of the week – a rose in a street flower market in Hanoi:

Shadow of the Week:

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Nature’s Pulse – and Our Own

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Everything new and pure

in the very prime of the spring

when Nature’s pulses were beating highest,

and mysteriously keeping time with our own!”

– John Muir –

Pause for a moment of peace, and notice a bud, a bloom, a spring-green leaf. Take a deep breath of the day. Match your pulse to nature’s energetic peace. Nurture that peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week – “tulips” in the tulip poplar:

Shadow of the Week – a fancy fence:

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When Spring Comes Rushing

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“I am a seed scattered from the barn of heaven

When spring comes rushing in my heart

I will burst in green.

Winter seems now a long forgotten dream.”

– Rumi –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Wonders to Hold and Keep

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Behold the white wistarias –

The Milky Way blown by the wind.”

– Hajin –

translated by Asataro Miyamori

Long ago, before behold meant to gaze upon or observe, it meant hold or keep. In a way, that’s what we do when we observe something. Each season brings us wonders. Hold on to them. Keep them in your mind and heart so that, in turn, they may hold you and keep you in a place of calm and peace.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week –wisteria hanging over our driveway through the neighbor’s bamboo:

Shadow of the Week:

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Season of the Sakura

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Spring night,

cherry-

blossom dawn.”

– Matsuo Basho –

Two years ago, I was in Japan during cherry blossom season. My son’s family and I picnicked alongside other families in a park full of cherry trees – sakura – rich with blooms. We strolled paths lined with cherry blossoms and delighted in delicate petals, breeze-blown, drifting gently to the ground. It was a time to pause in wonder at the beauty and the peace of spring. I hope you, too, can pause and find moments of peace as you experience the wonders of this season.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Divine Peace, Enthusiastic Joy

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Every day opens and closes like a flower,

noiseless, effortless.

Divine peace glows on all the majestic landscape,

like the silent enthusiastic joy

that sometimes transfigures a noble human face.”

– John Muir –

“Silent enthusiastic joy.” That’s what I often see in Thursday night art class at Art and Soul. Music plays softly in the background as my friends and I work independently but side by side, each of us creating art that comes from our souls and nourishes our souls. It’s then that I often see in my friends’ faces a “silent enthusiastic joy.”

But I picture other faces as well – my dad and sisters laughing uproariously in enthusiastic joy – delightfully not silent. Then there are my friends in the church choir as we listen to our director in silent, enthusiastic joy – which transforms into the joy of song. Whose faces do you picture when you think of enthusiastic joy – silent or not?

Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said, “Earth laughs in flowers.” In our part of the world, nature is now in bloom. As each day opens and closes like a flower, I wish you the divine peace that comes with earth’s joy and laughter. Happy Spring!

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – peach blossoms: