Spring Equinox Blessings
March 20 @ 15:33 UTC Northern Hemisphere
Solar spring has arrived with today’s Vernal Equinox, and although the poppies have not yet emerged in my locale, I know their colourful blossoms will soon grace the wild places.
When I see the the unfurling leaves on the trees, the spring herbs, new green tips on the evergreen and the longer light of the day, in the words of Mary Oliver I too know…
“that light
is an invitation
to happiness,
and that happiness,
when it’s done right,
is a kind of holiness...”
Poppies, by Mary Oliver
The poppies send up their
orange flares; swaying
in the wind, their congregations
are a levitation
of bright dust, of thin
and lacy leaves.
There isn’t a place
in this world that doesn’t
sooner or later drown
in the indigos of darkness,
but now, for a while,
the roughage
shines like a miracle
as it floats above everything
with its yellow hair.
Of course nothing stops the cold,
black, curved blade
from hooking forward—
of course
loss is the great lesson.
But I also say this: that light
is an invitation
to happiness,
and that happiness,
when it’s done right,
is a kind of holiness,
palpable and redemptive.
Inside the bright fields,
touched by their rough and spongy gold,
I am washed and washed
in the river
of earthly delight—
and what are you going to do—
what can you do
about it—
deep, blue night?