Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

Stippity steppity stoop. I’m always out of the loop. Whatever goes on, If I’m right or I’m wrong, I’m always outside of the group! The other day I happened to say A thing or two About what we should do About saving the day. Not any old day, no, not any at all! This particular day that’s about to befall Us is laden with flowers and birds everywhere, With their pollen and tweets and their devil may care, And their buds and their twigs and their pre-summer sprawl-- We’ve seen nothing like this since the mess last fall! Before it’s too late we should mow, we should prune! We should spray, we should weed, and we must do it soon. Let it go till tomorrow And much to our sorrow The fields and the trails and the streets will be strewn With Petals! with roots! spirea! and yarrow! Central Park Italian Garden, Spring 2013

It’s the daily-ness that wore me down, the over and over and on and on. Winter thudding along, mashing thoughts of spring into the muddy creases, Waiting, waiting. Will nothing ever happen? I am frozen like fingers on a frost-bit doorknob. No don’t try to open it, I’ve tried. Oh, it’s the daily-ness of winter, where is spring? How can I stop this brain-dead dialog, conjuring up a wrinkled copy of last year’s anticipation? Can't I give it one more try? Force out one more inaudible day? Waiting on the curbs and playgrounds, watching through the doors and windows, trudging after draining, unmet expectations along that repetitious path into another afternoon. I saw the yellow first and then that somehow different green: transparent, sun-lit, red-tipped, replicating life. Sun slanting and shifting through the afternoon showers, breaking into rainbows. English Conservancy Garden, April 2013 English Conservancy Gardens, Central Park April 2013