Dear Readers: Wishing you and your families a very happy Easter and Passover week. Spring is a time to get outdoors and play. It is a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. It is a time when the flowers begin to bloom and kittens are born. Below are some of my favorite poems about spring and joy and the innocence and beauty of childhood.
“Spring” by William Blake
“Sound the flute! / Now it’s mute! / Bird’s delight, / Day and night, / Nightingale, / In the dale, / Lark in sky, — / Merrily, / Merrily merrily, to welcome in the year. / Little boy, / Full of joy; / Little girl, / Sweet and small; / Cock does crow, / So do you; / Merry voice, / Infant noise; / Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year. / Little lamb, / Here I am; / Come and lick / My white neck; / Let me pull / Your soft wool; / Let me kiss / Your soft face; / Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.”
“Infant Joy” by William Blake
“I have no name / I am but two days old. — / What shall I call thee? / I happy am / Joy is my name, — / Sweet joy befall thee! / Pretty joy! / Sweet joy but two days old, / Sweet joy I call thee; / Thou dost smile. / I sing the while / Sweet joy befall thee.”
“Lines Written in Early Spring” by William Wordsworth
“I heard a thousand blended notes, / While in a grove I sate reclined, / In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts / Bring sad thoughts to the mind. / To her fair works did Nature link / The human soul that through me ran; / And much it grieved my heart to think / What man has made of man. / Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, / The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; / And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes. / The birds around me hopped and played, / Their thoughts I cannot measure: — / But the least motion which they made / It seemed a thrill of pleasure. / The budding twigs spread out their fan, / To catch the breezy air; / And I must think, do all I can, / That there was pleasure there. / If this belief from heaven be sent, / If such be Nature’s holy plan, / Have I not reason to lament / What man has made of man?
“The World-Soul” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Spring still makes spring in the mind / When sixty years are told: / Love wakes anew this throbbing heart, / And we are never old / Over the winter glaciers / I see the summer glow / And through the wind-piled snowdrift / The warm rosebuds below.”
“Easter Bunny” by Leanne Guenther
“With a hip and a hop — / Easter bunny won’t you stop, / At my house to hide some yummy little eggs. / Then you’ll jump out and run — / Down the street for some fun, / Zippity quick on your fuzzy, furry legs. / To hide treats for the others — / Boys and girls — even mothers, / Treats galore packed in baskets and bright bags!”
“How Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner?” is out now! Annie Lane’s second anthology — featuring favorite columns on marriage, infidelity, communication and reconciliation — is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to [email protected]