Waxing poetic

My favorite sign that spring is here is the bright gold forsythia blossoms. They give me hope each year that warm weather is on the way. This year, the forsythia, and everything else, bloomed much later than usual. But I still got the same happy rush when I saw it each day on my morning run. But the blossoms are falling off now, leading to my other spring favorites: magnolia and dogwood blossoms. I love the cup-and-saucer shaped magnolia flowers, and also the plain-but-pretty 4-petal pacific dogwood flower. And just as I love to see the forsythia nothing but a big burst of yellow, I love just as much to see the chinese dogwoods in a big burst of nothing but pink.

Up until this spring, I have had to admire all of these things in other people's yards. But this year we have our own, and it is so fun to walk through the backyard each day and see how things are growing and changing. We had a brutal winter, so it is a relief to see that 99% of our plants survived.

All of this changing of the seasons, and the loss of the forsythia blossoms has reminded me of my favorite Robert Frost poem. So beautiful in its literal sense of the forsythia blossoms being gold and not staying, but so powerful in its symbolic sense of life changing and perfect moments lasting not long enough. It also makes me think of how much my kids have grown--my oldest will get his learner's permit in 2 weeks and my baby doesn't wear diapers any more! Her early leaf's a flower, but only so an hour.....

Thanks to Mrs/Ms. Dustman/Daniels/Star/Star-Hart in 9th grade who made us memorize a billion poems so that I can pull them out of my brain at random moments such as this. That whole story could go on for a very long time. She was a great teacher, she just experienced quite a lifestyle change midway through my 9th grade year, if you know what I mean.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.