Bouncing in Spring

When Spring pounces on people on this side of the globe with bright sunny spells, everyone beams and flings away their thick winter clothing while abiding to the 'less is best' rule. Who in the sanest mind would sit in the shades and suffocate themselves in walled buildings while Mr Sun is out smiling?

Run on the green grass, sing in the warm air, twirl in the fields... It's been wonderful weather after Mr Winter went away, Alhamdulillah.

A contrast to the short, dark and gloomy days during winter, the days keep stretching away as if to make up for the lost time before. With sunrise before 6 a.m. (fajar around 3-ish) and Maghrib only at 8-ish (hence Isya 10-ish), it's time again to set our alarm clocks to cater for the changes. It's not an easy task, I tell you... but nonetheless possible!

We're now saying goodbye to the withering daffodils, who were around to greet the arrival of Spring. Other petals are blooming instead, multi-coloured and harmonised. It feels soothing to see flowers on landscapes; just like it is at the cemetery. The flowers we planted last Spring is blooming again. Yesterday, the children planted some petunias on it as they want it to be filled with plants that would help recite gratitudes to the Almighty.

It's a good time of year. Would warmth in the air mean warmth in the heart and soul? Only time will tell...

Almost, but not quite

It's still very cold here though the days are getting brighter and longer. For these past few days, I even had to draw the curtain in my wee kitchen because the sun rays were too bright and piercing. But don't let that fool you by thinking it is that warm outside! No, it's definitely not! On the contrary, it has actually been colder than other days.

It is a confusing time, really; to look at the sun and think, 'Oh, spring is here', and we go into the gardens preparing the plants and flowers for their awakening. However, in the mornings, we still find frost covering the ground.

The children also get a little confused, Mommy, is it still winter? Or is it Spring already? Abang H exclaimed the other day, when we saw beds of flowers preparing to bloom on the sidebanks along the roads.

The answer? Well, technically, Spring only begins sometime mid-March, so we are pretty much still in winter. Nonetheless, the sunshine gives us hope, doesn't it? It'll come soon and when it comes, the flowers will all bloom.


A Light Exists in Spring, by Emily Dickinson

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That silence cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.