Awakening to Spring

Since the pandemic and lockdown have unfolded, a robin has been visiting us every day - a flash of red flickers at the window and I see its bold chest bobbing up and down, as it peers directly into the window, inquisitive and beautiful to behold. It has such delicate features, with an intense gaze, like it’s trying to communicate with me. Maybe it has always visited? I don’t know whether its presence is new, or it simply had never caught my busy, distracted, eye before.

However, this heavy life, with its loud noises and busy list making, means spring has always appeared to just happen. Suddenly the bushes are in bloom, the evenings are lighter and a thin cardigan is comfortable enough to wear outside. 

During the last couple of weeks though, I have noticed each day the flowers emerging further from the ground and I greeted my first bumble bee as it circled around for a while, a rumble in its striped belly. And there are conversations with trees, wondering how old they were, wanting to understand how they got their scars. And lastly, smiles - people carry them in the corners of their mouths to greet me, stretching out.

There are many ways we can look at what we have lost, but it takes a different approach to see what we have gained.

Maybe a new perspective can emerge? Indeed it is an opportunity to take a slow breath, savouring a moment to truly see.

Wake up

I awoke to the trees applauding, 

Apples blush red as they wave at me, 

The sea is music, alluring, in soft melody,

The sky a long cry of freedom, on its back, in blue.

My chest rises; oven cooked bread, ready to serve, to others.

Soph Stephens