stories of spring
Springtime is such a mood.
And by this, I mean it is many moods. . .
It’s drizzle and heft, and brilliance and levity, light and shadow, all at once.
It’s a chill up your back and a glow on your face. A whisper, a shout, a hug, a punch. It’s a reminder of the permanence and impermanence whirling around us at all times.
this ceaseless motion reminds me of the words of Kenneth Grahame describing a central character in his most well-known work – The Wind in the Willows.
“…Suddenly he stood by the edge of a full-fed river.
Never in his life had he seen a river before— this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again.
All was a-shake and a shiver — glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble.
[He] was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories;
and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”
there is so much poignance to be found in children’s books, no?