Blooming

Days are warming, flowers are blooming, birds are singing. The world seems a little sweeter, a little kinder in spring. It's no surprise that spirits rise as the sun's warm rays return, as bees begin to buzz and eggs appear in nests. And yet, for several reasons, this month holds a hair shirt of challenges for me. Perhaps some of the problem lies with the medicine I have to take while lilacs bloom. Anyway... instead of my own words, I've chosen to share some poems that feel right for today. I hope you will find joy and solace in them. In the first one you will notice the word "man" where I wish a more encompassing word had been used, but I did not feel comfortable changing the original. Most of my readers are women... please know that my heart is with you.

Flower in the Crannied Wall

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies;--

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower -- but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

--Alfred Lord Tennyson

Small Things 

It usually starts taking shape
from one word

reveals itself in one smile

sometimes in the blue glint of eyeglasses

in a trampled daisy

in a splash of light on a path

in quivering carrot leaves

in a bunch of parsley

It comes from laundry hung on a balcony

from hands thrust into dough

It seeps through closed eyelids

as through the prison wall of things of objects

of faces of landscapes

It's when you slice bread

when you pour out some tea

It comes from a broom from a shopping bag

from peeling new potatoes

from a drop of blood from the prick of a needle

when making panties for a child

or sewing a button on a husband's burial shirt

It comes out of toil out of care

out of immense fatigue in the evening

out of a tear wiped away

out of a prayer broken off in mid-word by sleep

It's not from the grand

but from every tiny thing

that it grows enormous

as if Someone was building Eternity

as a swallow its nest

out of clumps of moments
     --Anna Kashenska (Polish, 1920-1986)

I praise Thee while my days go on;

I love Thee while my days go on:

Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost,

With emptied arms and treasure lost,

I thank Thee while my days go on.

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

And all shall be well and

All manner of thing shall be well.

-- T.S. Eliot

You are invited to read the offerings of the other bloggers in this group by

following this link to Carol Varsalona's blog,  Beyond Literacy Link.  After

you read Carol's page, follow the links posted at the bottom to find others. 

Blessings all!!!