Fresh green and sparkling for spring

"And the dimpling stream runs laughing by"

Primroses scent the grass and add colour

The new leaves on the trees in the town are fresh and bright even on a cloudy day

Spring is the season most associated with youth, with love and baby lambs, rabbits and chicks. The leaves are fresh and green. In the town the dust hadn't had a chance to settle on them. All our senses are on full alert. Our ears ring and sizzle with the trilling and warbling of the birds. The scent of freshly-cut grass renews sweetly our breath, unless you suffer from hay-fever. Every day there is a new sight to gladden our hearts as the blossom appears in unexpected corners, above a wall, round a corner. There is joy again in sitting on the grass and the feel of the first warm rays of sun on your skin.

 

William Blake (1757-1827) must have felt great delight being in the countryside. This poem from Songs of Innocence is called The Laughing Song. H.E.Bates made the first line famous in The Darling Buds of May series about  the Larkin family.

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy

And the dimpling stream runs laughing by

When the air does laugh with our merry wit

And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.

When the meadows laugh with lively green

And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene

When Mary and Susan and Emily with their sweet round mouths sing"Ha   ha he!'

When the painted birds laugh in the shade

Where  our table with cherries and nuts is spread

Come live and be merry and join with me

To sing the sweet chorus of 'Ha ha he!' I have always loved this poem. It sounds just like I feel after a glass of prosecco going home for Sunday lunch, one glass only.

It is a lovely sight to see blossom in hidden corners