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Nature’s Reawakening
Written By: William McReynolds | Issue: March 2024
William delivers a full-throated hymn to the transcendent beauty of this most misunderstood month.
Spring commences in March like the beginning of a full orchestral symphony.
Subtle green appears at the tippy tops of tall trees, fading into awareness like the rising tones of soft violins. Eager crocuses pop up and take their early place in the symphony like joyous piccolos. Hyacinths appear in sudden purple, pink and white like harmonizing flutes, bassoons and oboes.
Early also are the cherry, peach, and pear blossoms, pink and red and white, that join in like the tintinnabulation of tiny percussionist bells.
My favorites are the early daffodils and tulips – yellow, red, and blue gone wild – trumpeting their appearance like a standing brass horn section with their coronets, French horns and trombones.
Early also is the forsythia, known as Spring Herald and one of the “Four Friends of the Snow,” along with plum blossoms, narcissus, and camellias. The surprising yellow of forsythia pierces the air like a drumbeat establishing the new rhythm of the season.
Pushing synesthesia to its glorious limit, we now look forward to hearing the rest of the orchestra, to the appearance of our azaleas and hydrangeas: the full string section and all the woodwinds.
Later comes the beauty of a tree-sized rhododendron in full bloom in the summer sun, a strapping soprano soloist who has joined the maestro and orchestra on the stage.
Remember also that the American Robin has been called “a piano in the woods.” Have I exhausted that metaphor? Such is the irrational exuberance of Spring.
Spring is Nature’s renewal of Her lease on life for another twelve months.
We Western Carolinians are renewed also and go forward with new hope for the future. The lamb cometh.
It’s a good time to listen to Aaron Copeland’s Appalachian Spring.
Happy March!
