Quotes from the Classics: April
It’s Spring at last! Yet April necessitates patience and patience, by definition, is hard. Otherwise it would just be waiting. April provides an even more tangible promise of euphoria, while simultaneously requiring us to sit a while longer in transition. Our expectations begin to get the better of us. The snow has given way - well, usually (I’m looking at you Ohio) - but to what? There are days of warmth and sunshine to be sure, but very often there is rain and even a blustery reminder of the winter past. I hurry to my community garden plot to water my plants and keep them from burning up in near 90 degree weather, only to hurry back two days later to cover them and protect them from possible frost. “Gah!,” I project in my being. “Just hurry up and get there…arrive already,” my essence seems to say.
But there are gifts here, in this space and time of year, to ease the hearts of even the most impatient. The sprouts and blooms make me happy, as do the bright shades of green that seem to capture light and life, not yet having matured into deep forests or emeralds or sages. My youngest daughter gleefully celebrates every time a new baby plant boldly reaches toward the sun, displaying itself in its egg carton cup, bound soon enough for the community garden. The rain offers peace and calm and all of nature takes a breath before an inevitable explosion of color and excitement. It all seems to tell of what is to come, while bringing joy right now. Such is April. Be patient my friends. Honor February’s fallow ground, lean into March’s blustery winds, look forward to the May flowers, AND enjoy life now in its visible state of becoming.
Check out some of these classic quotes about renewal, freshness, beginnings, growth, and Love. By the way, April means not only “to open” but is also named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of Love. How fitting. Enjoy!
Sprouts by Markus Spiske
“Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby”
“Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful.”
“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”
“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell’d in celestial light
The glory and the freshness of a dream.”
“Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love.”
“With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes, the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come… This was the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall… When the cold rains kep on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had dies for no reason. In those days, though, the spring always cam finally bit it was frightening that it had nearly failed.”
“In time of silver rain
The butterflies
Life silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth
New leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too,
In time of silver rain
When spring
And life
Are new.”
“Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.”
Love in all things,
April Eileen
