"The sun was warm but the wind was
chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March."
- Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, 1926
"And Spring arose
on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant
"Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly--and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing."
- Omar Khayyám
"The first
of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year."
- Mark Twain
"Spring would
not be spring without bird songs."
- Francis M. Chapman
"That God once
loved a garden we learn in Holy writ.
And seeing gardens in the Spring I well can credit it."
- Winifred Mary Letts
"O Day after day we can't
help growing older.
Year after year spring can't help seeming younger.
Come let's enjoy our winecup today,
Nor pity the flowers fallen."
- Wang Wei, On Parting with Spring
by Leslie Alan Horvitz
by M.E.S. Wright 
by John D. Cox
by Storm Dunlop
by Jack Williams
"The April rain,
the April rain,
Comes slanting down in fitful showers,
Then from the furrow shoots the grain,
And banks are fledged with nestling flowers;
And in grey shawl and woodland bowers
The cuckoo through the April rain
Calls once again."
- Mathilde Blind, April Rain
"Keep your faith
in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone."
- Roy R.
Gilson
"Tossing his mane of snows in
wildest eddies and tangles,
Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous breath,
Through all the moaning chimneys, and 'thwart all the hollows and angles
Round the shuddering house, threating of winter and death.
But in my heart I feel the life of the wood and the meadow
Thrilling the pulses that own kindred with fibers that lift
Bud and blade to the sunward, within the inscrutable shadow,
Deep in the oak's chill core, under the gathering drift.
Nay, to earth's life in mine some prescience, or dream, or desire
(How shall I name it aright?) comes for a moment and goes--
Rapture of life ineffable, perfect--as if in the brier,
Leafless there by my door, trembled a sense of the rose."
- William Dean Howell, Earliest Spring
"When the time is ripe for certain things,
these things appear in different places in the manner
of violets coming to light in the early spring."
- Farkas Bolyai
"April's rare
capricious loveliness."
- Julia Dorr
"You start in
April and cross to the time of May
One has you as it leaves, one as it comes
Since the edges of these months are yours and defer
To you, either of them suits your praises.
The Circus continues and the theatre's lauded palm,
Let this song, too, join the Circus spectacle."
- Ovid, Fasti (V.185-190, CE)
"Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sellp-song on our roof at night--
And I love the rain."
- Langston Hughes, 1902-1967,
April Rain Song
"Sweet April showers
Do spring May flowers."
- Thomas Tusser, A Hundred Good Points of
Husbandry, 1557
"Every spring is
the only spring - a perpetual astonishment."
- Ellis Peters
"I sing of brooks, of
blossoms, birds, and bowers:
Of April, May, or June, and July flowers.
I sing of Maypoles, Hock-carts, wassails, wakes,
Of bridegrooms, brides, and of the bridal cakes."
- Robert Herrick, Hesperides, 1648
"Now that the
winter's gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful spring."
- Thomas Carew, The
Spring, 1630
by Nichole Faires 
by Carleen Madigan 
by Bret Markham
by Kathy Harrison
"This spring as
it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.
I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,
Faces of people streaming across my gaze."
- D. H.
Lawrence, The Enkindled Spring
"When the April wind wakes the call for the
soil, I hold the plough as my only hold upon the earth, and, as I follow through the fresh and fragrant furrow, I am planted with every foot-step, growing, budding, blooming into a spirit of spring."
- Dallas Lore Sharp, 1870-1929
"If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year,
or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake,
and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would
be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change!
But now the silent succession suggests nothing but necessity.
To most men only the cessation of the miracle would be
miraculous and the perpetual exercise of God's power
seems less wonderful than its withdrawal would be."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Poor, dear,
silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!"
- Wallace Stevens
"Hark, I hear a robin calling!
List, the wind is from the south!
And the orchard-bloom is falling
Sweet as kisses on the mouth.
In the dreamy vale of beeches
Fair and faint is woven mist,
And the river's orient reaches
Are the palest amethyst.
Every limpid brook is singing
Of the lure of April days;
Every piney glen is ringing
With the maddest roundelays.
Come and let us seek together
Springtime lore of daffodils,
Giving to the golden weather
Greeting on the sun-warm hills."
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Spring Song
By Edain McCoy
by Ann Morrill 
by Raven Grimassi 
by Helen Thompson
by Joanne Weir
by Ellen Jackson
"The year is ended, and it only adds to my
age;
Spring has come, but I must take leave of my home.
Alas, that the trees in this eastern garden,
Without me, will still bear flowers."
- Su Ting, 720 CE
"Come, I come! ye have called me long,
I come o'er the mountain with light and song:
Ye may trace my step o'er the wakening earth,
By the winds which tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose-stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves, opening as I pass."
- Felicia D. Hemans, Voice of Spring
"The roofs are shining from the rain,
The sparrows twitter as they fly,
And with a windy April grace
The little clouds go by.
Yet the back yards are bare and brown
With only one unchanging tree--
I could not be so sure of Spring
Save that it sings in me."
- Sara Teasdale, April
by Ashleen O'Gaea. A good
study of four spring and summer celebrations that is rich in details and ideas.
by
Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart. This
is a valuable collection of information, poetry, rituals, songs, and craft
activities for seasonal celebrations. 
by Brian Nelson
"It is only the
farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the
Autumn. "
- B. C. Forbes
"I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become,
I will always plant a large garden in the spring.
Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one
gets from participating in nature's rebirth?"
- Edward Giobbi
"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and
dirty world."
- Virgil A. Kraft
"April is the cruelest
month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain."
- T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, 1922
"When the clouds
shake their hyssops, and the rain
Like holy water falls upon the plain,
'Tis sweet to gaze upon the springing grain
And see your harvest born.
And sweet the little breeze of melody
The blackbord puffs upon the budding tree,
While the wild poppy lights upon the lea
And blazes 'mid the corn."
- Francis Ledwidge, A Rainy Day in April
"On the approach of spring, I
withdraw without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene
of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure."
- Edward Gibbon
"Spring makes everything look filthy."
- Katherine Whitehorn
"The first of April, some do
say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment."
- Poor Robin's Almanac,
1790
"In the landscape of
Spring there is neither
better or worse.
The flowering branches grow naturally,
some long, some short."
- Alan Watts, Beat Zen, Square Zen,
quoting a Chan Master
"A violet in the
youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
The perfume and suppliance of a minute."
- William Shakespeare
by Patricia Montley
Annual Editions
"No days such
honored days as these! While yet
Fair Aphrodite reigned, men seeking wide
For some fair thing which should forever bide
On earth, her beauteous memory to set
In fitting frame that no age could forget,
Her name in lovely April's name did hide,
And leave it there, eternally allied
To all the fairest flowers Spring did beget."
- Helen Hunt
Jackson, Calendar of Sonnets - April, 1875
"From some home a jade flute sends dark notes
drifting,
Scattering on the spring wind that fills Lo-yang.
Tonight, if we should hear the willow-breaking song,
Who could help but long for the gardens of home?"
-
Li Po, Spring Night, 760
"Awake, thou
wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!"
- Thomas Blackburn, An Easter Hymn
"If your purse no
longer bulges
and you've lost your golden treasure,
If times you think you're lonely
and have hungry grown for pleasure,
Don't sit by your hearth and grumble,
don't let mind and spirit harden.
If it's thrills of joy you wish for
get to work and plant a garden!
If it's drama that you sigh for,
plant a garden and you'll get it
You will know the thrill of battle
fighting foes that will beset it
If you long for entertainment and
for pageantry most glowing,
Plant a garden and this summer spend
your time with green things growing."
- Edgar Guest, Plant a Garden
by Knut Hamsun 
by Elizabeth Stell 
by Jeff Lowenfels 
by James Nardi 
by Christin Ditchfield 
by Helmut Kohnke 
by William Bryant Logan
"A small green frog
On a big brown log;
A black and yellow bee
In a little green tree;
A red and yellow snake
By a blue-green lake,
All sat and listened
To red bird sing,
"Wake up, everybody,
It's spring! It's spring!" "
"Flower god, god of the spring, beautiful,
bountiful,
Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles,
Here I wander in April
Cold, grey-headed; and still to my
Heart, Spring comes with a bound, Spring the deliverer,
Spring, song-leader in woods, chorally resonant;
Spring, flower-planter in meadows,
Child-conductor in willowy
Fields deep dotted with bloom, daisies and crocuses:
Here that child from his heart drinks of eternity:
O child, happy are children!
She still smiles on their innocence,
She, dear mother in God, fostering violets,
Fills earth full of her scents, voices and violins:
Thus one cunning in music
Wakes old chords in the memory:
Thus fair earth in the Spring leads her performances.
One more touch of the bow, smell of the virginal
Green - one more, and my bosom
Feels new life with an ecstasy."
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Flower God, God of the
Spring
by Diana Ferguson
by Edain McCoy. Practical suggestions for seasonal holiday celebrations.
"It's spring
fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh,
you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes
your heart ache, you want it so!"
- Mark Twain
"Sweet spring, full of
sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie."
"The naked earth
is warm with Spring,
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun's kiss glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze."
- Julian Grenfell
"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if
it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night."
- Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer
Maria Rilke
"Flower god, god
of the spring, beautiful, bountiful,
Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles,
Here I wander in April
Cold, grey-headed; and still to my
Heart, Spring comes with a bound, Spring the deliverer,
Spring, song-leader in woods, chorally resonant;
Spring, flower-planter in meadows,
Child-conductor in willowy
Fields deep dotted with bloom, daisies and crocuses:
Here that child from his heart drinks of eternity:
O child, happy are children!"
- Robert
Louis Stevenson, Flower God, God of the Spring, 1890
"I love spring anywhere, but if I could
choose
I would always greet it in a garden."
- Ruth Stout
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord Hymn
"April hath put a spirit of youth in
everything."
- William Shakespeare
"Listen, can you hear it? Spring's sweet cantata. The strains of
grass pushing through the snow. The song of buds swelling on the vine.
The tender timpani of a baby robin's heart. Spring.!"
- Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure
"Beauty is a form of genius - is
higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like
sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon."
- Oscar Wilde
"So Spring comes
merry towards me here, but earns
No answering smile from me, whose life is twin'd
With the dead boughs that winter still must bind,
And whom today the Spring no more concerns.
Behold,
this crocus is a withering flame;
This snowdrop, snow; this apple-blossom's part
To breed the fruit that breeds the serpent's art.
Nay, for these Spring-flowers, turn thy face from them,
Nor stay till on the year's last lily-stem
The white cup shrivels round the golden heart."
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Barren Spring,
1870
By Edain McCoy
by Ann Morrill
by Raven Grimassi
by Helen Thompson
by Joanne Weir
by Ellen Jackson
"Poets and songwriters speak highly of spring
as one of the great joys of life in the temperate zone, but in the real world most of spring is disappointing. We looked forward to it too long, and the spring we had in mind in February was warmer and dryer than the actual spring when it finally arrives. We’d expected it to be a whole season, like
winter, instead of a handful of separate moments and single afternoons."
- Barbara Holland, Endangered Pleasures
"Welcome, wild harbinger of spring!
To this small nook of earth;
Feeling and fancy fondly cling,
Round thoughts which owe their birth,
To thee, and to the humble spot,
Where chance has fixed thy lowly lot. "
- Bernard Barton
"Spring makes
everything young again except man."
- Richter
"To what
purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?"
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, Spring
"It was that period in the vernal quarter when
we may suppose the Dryads to be waking for the season. The vegetable world
begins to move and swell and the saps to rise, till in the completest silence of
lone gardens and trackless plantations, where everything seems helpless and
still after the bond and slavery of frost, there are bustlings, strainings,
united thrusts, and pulls-all-together, in comparison with which the powerful
tugs of cranes and pulleys in a noisy city are but pigmy efforts."
- Thomas Hardy
"In the glow of
the dawn,
Welcome a new day,
Greet the golden sunlight or rain,
Nature in all its subtlety.
Whip of the wind,
Earth unfolds,
Softly falling rain,
Growing plants and buds blossoming.
Visions of the earth, with glories of nature,
Beauty of the daffodils,
Sunshine and rain from a rainbow,
Awe! Nature in full bloom."
- Blanche Black, Springtime
"In snowbound,
voiceless,
mountain depths,
to herald spring,
pine trees sound in tune."
- Princess Shikishi
"Ahh, the wide almond groves in full white flower
Stunning in the morning sun.
Old naked Winter in his garb of grays and browns has run.
Forsythia blooms come and go in the blink of a yellow Eye,
Then, suddenly, mysteriously, Green erupts; and we sigh."
- Michael P.
Garofalo, Cuttings
"In Celtic
tradition, the night of April 30 was thought of as the darkest of the year, when witches flew to frighten, spawning evil throughout the land. In response, people pounded on kettles, slammed doors, cracked whips, rang church bells and made all the noise they could to scare off the corruption they imagined to be moving on the moist air. They lit bonfires and torches and witch- proofed their houses with spring boughs. Such vigils were kept throughout the night until the rising of the May-dawn."
- May
Day
"Anyone who has a
bulb has spring. Bulbs don't need much light; they don't need good soil;
and they
don't need cosseting. They are, in fact, the horticultural equivalent of
cats; self-contained, easy-care,
and supremely suited to living in New York."
- Author Unknown
"Spring with its
wavin' green grass and heaps of sweet-smellin' flowers on every hill and in
every dale. "
- Roy Bean
"Men are April
when they woo,
December when they wed:
Maids are May when they are maids,
But the sky changes when they are wives."
- William Shakespeare
Edited by Robert Atwan
By Karen Matsuko Hood 
by Fred Chappell
"Certain miracles that I beheld there have
haunted my memory
ever since: a gray April morning of sirocco, when the almond
blossoms, the flaming tulips, the young green of the vines, hung
as if painted on the motionless air; a summer night when the
roses had an unearthly pallor under a half-eaten moon, whose
ghostliness was somehow one with their perfume and with the
phosphorescence of dew tipping their petals; a day when the
trees stood part submerged in fog, into which leaves dropped
slowly, slowly, one after another, and sank out of sight.
- H. G. Dwight, Gardens and Gardening,
Atlantic Monthly, 1912
"The seasons, like greater
tides, ebb and flow across the continents.
Spring advances up the United States at the average rate of about fifteen miles a day. It ascends mountainsides at the rate of about a hundred feet a day. It sweeps ahead like a flood of water, racing down the long valleys, creeping up hillsides in a rising tide. Most of us, like the man who lives on the bank of a river and watches the stream flow by, see only one phase of the movement of spring. Each
year the season advances toward us out of the south, sweeps around us, goes flooding away to the north."
- Edwin Way Teale, North With the Spring
by Ian Corrigan. Thoughtful poems and rituals for seasonal holidays by a true Druid Bard. 
by Caitlin Matthews
"O thou
with dewy locks, who lookest down
Thro' the clear windows of the morning, turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring!
The hills tell each other, and the listening
Valleys hear; all our longing eyes are turned
Up to thy bright pavilions: issue forth,
And let thy holy feet visit our clime.
Come o'er the eastern hills, and let our winds
Kiss thy perfumed garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our love-sick land that mourns for thee."
- William Blake, To Spring, 1820
"In the spring I have counted one
hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty
hours."
- Mark Twain
"We do not
ask what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens... The diversity of the phenomena of Nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking
in fresh nourishment."
- Johannes
Kepler, Mysterium Cosmographicum
"I had not
thought of violets of late,
The wild, shy kind that springs beneath you feet
In wistful April days."
- Alice Dunbar-Nelson
"The first day of
spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference
between them is sometimes as great as a month."
- Henry Van Dyke
"And fairy month of waking mirth
From whom our joys ensue
Thou early gladder of the earth
Thrice welcome here anew
With thee the bud unfolds to leaves
The grass greens on the lea
And flowers their tender boon receives
To bloom and smile with thee."
- John Clare, Spring
"Spring has
returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
"An optimist is
the human personification of spring."
- Susan J. Bissonette
"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow."
- A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, 1887
by Oliver Flippi
by Beth Chatto 
by Gale Weinstein
by Eric Johnson
by Kathleen Bresnel
by Ortho 
by Warren Jones 
"It is the
sweetest spring within the memory of man. So green, so mild, so beautiful!
Ah, what a contrast between nature without and my own soul so torn with doubt
and terror!"
- Sir Arthur Conyan Doyle
"This outward spring and garden are a
reflection of the inward garden."
- Rumi
"A gush of bird song, a patter of dew
A cloud and a rainbow's warning;
Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue
An April day in the morning!"
- Harriet Prescott Spofford
"The green eyes
of Springtime,
Charming, as ever,
Flirting, again."
- Michael Garofalo,
Cuttings
"In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of flowers and the
season of spring. While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in
Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association
with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime. Her
festival, the
Floralia,
was held in April or early May and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life,
marked with dancing, drinking, and flowers. Her Greek equivalent was
Chloris.
Flora was married to
Favonius,
the wind god, and her companion was Hercules. Due to her association with
plants, her name in modern English also means plant life. Flora achieved
more prominence in the neo-pagan revival of Antiquity among Renaissance
humanists than she had ever enjoyed in ancient Rome."
- Flora
(Mythology) - Wikipedia
Detail of Flora from
Primavera
Botticelli, c. 1482
"Flora is the Roman Goddess of flowering
plants, especially those that bear fruit. Spring, of course, is Her season, and
She has elements of a Love-Goddess, with its attendant attributes of fertility,
sex, and blossoming. She is quite ancient; the Sabines are said to have named a
month for Her (which corresponds to our and the Roman April), and She was known
among the Samnites as well as the Oscans, where She was called Flusia. She was
originally the Goddess specifically of the flowering crops, such as the grain or
fruit-trees, and Her function was to make the grain, vegetables and trees bloom
so that autumn's harvest would be good. She was invoked to avert rust, a nasty
fungal disease of plants that causes orange growths the exact color of rusting
iron, and which was (is) an especial problem affecting wheat. Hers is the
beginning of the process that finds its completion with
Pomona, the Goddess of
Fruit and the Harvest; and like Pomona, Flora had Her own flamen, one of
a small number of priests each in service to a specific Deity. The flamens were
said to have been instituted by Numa, the legendary second King of Rome who
succeeded Romulus; and whether Numa really existed or not, the flamens were
undoubtedly of ancient origin, as were the Deities they served."
-
Flora - Roman Goddess
"I don't believe
the half I hear,
Nor the quarter of what I see!
But I have one faith, sublime and true,
That nothing can shake or slay;
Each spring I firmly believe anew
All the seed catalogues say!"
- Carolyn Wells
"The early mist had vanished and the fields
lay like a silver shield under the sun. It was one of the days when the glitter
of winter shines through a pale haze of spring."
- Edith Wharton
"Oh, give
us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees."
- Robert Frost, A Prayer
in Spring
"April prepares
her green traffic light and the world thinks Go."
- Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe
"An
altered look about the hills;
A Tyrian light the village fills;
A wider sunrise in the dawn;
A deeper twilight on the lawn;
A print of a vermilion foot;
A purple finger on the slope;
A flippant fly upon the pane;
A spider at his trade again;
An added strut in chanticleer;
A flower expected everywhere ..."
- Emily Dickinson, Nature: April
"All that
is sweet, delightful, and amiable in this world, in the serenity of the air, the fineness of seasons, the joy of light, the melody of sounds, the beauty of colors, the fragrance of smells, the splendor our precious stones, is nothing else but Heaven breaking through the veil of this world, manifesting itself in such a degree and darting forth in such variety so much of its own nature."
- William Law
"Spring
in the world! And all things are made new!"
-
Richard Hovey
"Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower--but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, all in all,
I should know what God and man is."
- Lord Alfred Tennyson,
Flower in the Crannied Wall
"I have walked this south stream when to
believe in spring was an act of faith. It was spitting snow and
blowing, and within two days of being May ... But as if to assert the
triumph of climate over weather,
one ancient willow managed a few gray pussy willows, soft and barely visible
against the snow-blurred
gray background."
- Ann Zwinger
"April, April
Laugh thy girlish laughter;
Then, the moment after,
Weep thy girlish tears."
- Sir William Watson
"We are all flowers in the garden of the
world.
Some of us are daisys dainty and bright.
Some of us are poppys,with sweet contagious laughter.
If there was a flower for you,
Youd be a wild orchid,
So full of life,colors alive,
Sprinkled with scarlett and purple,
Explosions of colors racing through your petals."
- Lanie Costea, A Wild Orchid
"Just as I wonder
whether it's going to die,
the orchid blossoms
and I can't explain why it
moves my heart, why such pleasure
comes from one small bud
on a long spindly stem, one
blood red gold flower
opening at mid-summer,
tiny, perfect in its hour."
- Sam Hamill, The Orchid Flower
"The air is like a
butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings."
- Joyce Kilmer, Spring
"Mindful of
you the sodden earth in spring,
And all the flowers that in the springtime grow,
And dusty roads, and thistles, and the slow
Rising of the round moon, all throats that sing
The summer through, and each departing wing,
And all the nests that the bared branches show,
And all winds that in any weather blow,
And all the storms that the four seasons bring.
You go no more on your exultant feet
Up paths that only mist and morning knew,
Or watch the wind, or listen to the beat
Of a bird's wings too high in air to view,—
But you were something more than young and sweet
And fair,—and the long year remembers you."
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mindful of You the
Sodden Earth in Spring
"Beneath these fruit-tree boughs
that shed
Their snow-white blossoms on my head,
With brightest sunshine round me spread
Of spring's unclouded weather,
In this sequestered nook how sweet
To sit upon my orchard-seat!
And birds and flowers once more to greet,
My last year's friends together."
- William Wordsworth
by Nora Harlow
by Joyce Tenneson
by Nancy Hill
by Graeme Grosvenor
by Sara Starbuck
"The first day of spring is one
thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month."
- Henry Van Dyke, Fisherman's Luck, 1899
"Spring slattern of seasons
you have soggy legs
and a muddy petticoat
drowsy
is your hair your
eyes are sticky with
dream and you have a sloppy body from
being brought to bed of crocuses
when you sing in your whisky voice
the grass rises on the head of the earth
and all the trees are put on edge
spring
of the excellent jostle of
thy hips
and the superior"
- E. E. Cummings, Spring Onmipotent Goddess Thou
"Just sitting quietly,
doing nothing,
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself."
- Zenrin poem
"I have seen the
Lady April bringing
the daffodils,
Bringing the springing grass and the
soft warm April rain."
- John Masefield
"Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go;
it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow."
- Alice M. Swaim
by Harold Feinstein
by Nancy J. Ondra
by Grahame Clarke
"From you have I been absent
in the spring,
When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew;
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem'd it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play."
- William Shakespeare, Sonnet 98
"In California
in the early Spring,
There are pale yellow mornings, when the mist burns slowly into day,
The air stings like Autumn, clarifies like pain -
Well, I have dreamed this coast myself."
- Robert Hass
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch
of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was
the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct
to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
"Spring,
the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king;
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing--
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
The palm and may make country houses gay,
Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day,
And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay--
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,
Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit,
In every street these tunes our ears do greet--
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring, the sweet Spring!"
- Thomas Nashe, Spring,
1590
by
Mel Bartholomew
by Barbara Pleasant
by Eliot Coleman
by
Gene Logsdon
by B. C.
Wolverton
by Grahame Clarke
"Well-apparel'd
April on the heel
Of limping Winter treads."
- William Shakespeare
"Are we to look at cherry blossoms
only in full bloom, the moon
only when it is cloudless? To long for the moon while looking on
the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of
the spring - these are even more deeply moving. Branches
about to blossom or gardens strewn with flowers are worthier of our admiration."
- Yoshida Kenko
"There is no season such delight can bring,
As summer, autumn, winter and the spring."
- William Browne
"Indoors or out,
no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes, the wind will presently
disappear, the taxes last us all the year."
- Ogden Nash
"Sakura, Sakura.
Noyamamo satomo
Miwatasu kagiri.
Kasumi-ka kumo-ka.... asahi-ni niou
Sakura, Sakura,
Hanazakari.
Cherry Blossoms, cherry blossoms.
On mountains, in villages.
As far as you can see.
They look like fog or clouds. They are fragrant in the morning sun.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms.
In full bloom."
"Can words
describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring? "
- Neltje Blanchan
"Blackberry
winter, the time when the hoarforst lies on the blackberry blossoms; without
this frost
the berries will not set. It is the forerunner of a rich harvest."
- Margaret Mead
"Dirty days hath September
April June and November
From January up to May
The rain it raineth every day
All the rest have thirty-one
Without a blessed gleam of sun
And if any of them had two-and-thirty
They'd be just as wet and twice as dirty."
"April hath put a
spirit of youth in everything."
- William Shakespeare
"Science has never drummed up quite as
effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day."
- W. Earl Hall
"One swallow does not make a
spring, nor does one fine day."
- Aristotle
"When April
scatters charms of primrose gold
Among the copper leaves in thickets old,
And singing skylarks from the meadows rise,
To twinkle like black stars in sunny skies;
When I can hear the small woodpecker ring
Time on a tree for all the birds that sing;
And hear the pleasant cuckoo, loud and long --
The simple bird that thinks two notes a song."
- William
Henry Davies, April's Charms
"Break open
A cherry tree
And there are no flowers;
But the spring breeze
Brings forth myriad blossoms."
- Ikkyu Sojun, 1394-1481
"Late April and you are three;
today
We dug your garden in the yard.
To curb the damage of your play,
Strange dogs at night and the moles tunneling,
Four slender sticks of lath stand guard
Uplifting their thin string.
So you were the first to
tramp it down.
And after the earth was sifted close
You brought your watering can to drown
All earth and us. But these mixed seeds are pressed
With light loam in their steadfast rows.
Child, we've done our best."
- W. D. Snodgrass
"In my old home
which I forsook, the cherries
are in bloom."
- Issa, 1800
"My
wretched feet, flayed and swollen to lameness by the sharp air of January, began to heal and subside under the gentler breathings of April; the nights and mornings no longer by their Canadian temperature froze the very blood in our veins; we could now endure the play-hour passed in the garden."
- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
"Spring
has again returned.
The Earth is like a child that knows many poems.
Many, O so many. For the hardship
of such long learning she receives the prize.
Strict was her teacher.
The white in the old man's beard pleases us.
Now, what to call green, to call blue,
we dare to ask: She knows, She knows!"
- Rainer Marie Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, XXI
"Meadowlarks
give lusty cheers
when spring appears
when spring appears.
Buds and seeds
prick up their ears
and blades of grass
show eager spears.
And only icicles
weep tears
when spring appears
when spring appears."
- Aileen Fisher, When Spring Appears
"No Winter
lasts forever, no Spring skips its turn.
April is a promise that May is bound to keep, and we know it."
- Hal Borland
"The sun was warm
but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day."
- Robert Frost
"This morning, flowers
cracked open
the earth’s brown shell. Spring
leaves spilled everywhere
though winter’s stern hand
could come down again at any moment
to break the delicate yolk
of a new bloom.
The crocus don’t see this as they chatter
beneath a cheerful petal of spring sky.
They ignore the air’s brisk arm
as they peer at their fresh stems, step
on the leftover fragments
of old leaves.
When the night wind twists them to pieces,
they will die like this: laughing,
tossing their brilliant heads
in the bitter air."
- Christine Klocek-Lim
"I love spring
anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden."
- Ruth Stout
"How many million Aprils came
before I ever knew
how white a cherry bough could be,
a bed of squills, how blue
And many a dancing April
when life is done with me,
will lift the blue flame of the flower
and the white flame of the tree
Oh burn me with your beauty then,
oh hurt me tree and flower,
lest in the end death try to take
even this glistening hour..."
- Sara
Teasdale, Blue Squills, 1920
"The year's at spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill sides's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his heaven -
All's right with the world!"
- Robert Browning, The
Year's at the Spring, 1870
"Unless a tree has borne blossoms
in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn."
- Charles Hare
"All the
wild sweetness of the flower
Tangled against the wall.
It was that magic, silent hour....
The branches grew so tall
They twined themselves into a bower.
The sun shown ... and the fall
Of yellow blossom on the grass!
You feel that golden rain?
Both of you could not hold, alas,
(both of you tried, in vain)
A memory, stranger. So I pass....
It will not come again."
- Katherine Mansfield, Spring Wind in London, 1920
"Dropped off
body and mind -
weeding new cuttings."
- Michael P. Garofalo,
Cuttings
"For lo, the winter is
past, the rain is over and gone;
the flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."
- Song of Solomon
"Oh, give us pleasure in the
flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year."
- Robert Frost
"In April, we cannot see
sunflowers in France, so we might say the sunflowers do not exist. But the local farmers have already planted thousands of
seeds, and when they look at the bare hills, they may be able to see the
sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They lack only the conditions of sun,
heat, rain and July. Just because we cannot see them does not mean that they do not exist."
- Thich Nhat Hanh
"An apple tree does not have to
justify its existence by bearing fruit. Its fragrance, so delicate that it
is almost
stronger in memory than in reality, is sufficient. Or the sight of it.
Irresistibly you step close enough to
inhale from the heart of one bloom, although actually the fragrance is more
distinct if you stand back a
few steps letting the sun-touched wind bring the perfume to you. No one
can ever forget the smell or the
sight of a wide spreading apple tree in full bloom."
- Rachel Peden
"Karumi is the Japanese word for "lightness".
The famous Japanese poet Basho used it to mean
"the beauty of ordinary things spoken of in a simple way"."
- Aha Poetry
"carrying moonlight
into the house
white peony"
- Margaret Chula
"The hills are white, but not
with snow:
They are as pale in summer time,
For herb or grass may never grow
Upon their slopes of lime.
Within the circle of the hills
A ring, all flowering in a round,
An orchard-ring of almond fills
The plot of stony ground.
More fair than happier trees, I
think,
Grown in well-watered pasture land
These parched and stunted branches, pink
Above the stones and sand.
O white, austere, ideal place,
Where very few will care to come,
Where spring hath lost the waving grace
She wears for us at home!
Fain would I sit and watch for hours
The holy whiteness of thy hills,
Their wreath of pale auroral flowers,
Their peace the silence fills.
A place of secret peace thou art,
Such peace as in an hour of pain
One moment fills the amazed heart,
And never comes again."
- A. Mary F. Robinson, An
Orchard in Avignon, 1937
by Dorte Nielson
by Julie Moir Messervy
and Sarah Susanka
by
Carol Deppe
by Susanne
Ashworth and Kent Whealy
by Edward C. Smith
by Edward C. Smith
"The promise of these fragrant flowers,
The fruit that 'neath these blossoms lies
Once hung, they say, in Eden's bowers,
And tempted Even in Paradise.
O Fairest daughter of Eve's blood,
Lest her misprision thine should be,
I've nipped temptation in the bud
And send this snowy spray to thee."
- Walter Learned, With a Spray of Apple Blossoms
"First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus,
Crocus."
- Lilja Rogers
"April was formerly the second month in the ancient Roman
year, when March began the calendar. The “real” origin of its name has
been lost. The most common theory is that Aprilis is derived from the
Latin verb Aperire, “to open”, as the opening, or blossoming, of trees and
flowers. Since the Romans often named months for gods (and goddesses),
and since April was sacred to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, her festival
was held on the first day of Aprilis. Is possible that Aprilis was originally called Aphrilis, a Latin name which comes from
Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of lnus?
Fordicidia, the Feast of the Cows on April 15,
when ancient rites were conducted to ensure the prosperity of crops. A cow
pregnant with calf was
sacrificed, and attendants of the vestal virgins then took the calf from its
mother to burn it. Its ashes, gathered up by the vestals, were used a few
days later at the Parilia. The
Parilia was the annual Roman festival of flocks and
herds, celebrated on April 21 in honor of Pales, the pastoral deity (god or
goddess) and special protector of cattle. The Parilia, essentially a
pastoral, or agricultural rite, is believed to have originated long before
the founding of the city of Rome (753 B.C.). Romulus, the legendary
“founder of Rome”, is thought to have played a significant role in
conducting the cleansing and renewal rituals of the Parilia. April 21
(XI days to Maius Calends) was set aside to commemorate not only Pales, but
also the founding of Rome. A public holiday known as the Natalis urbis
Romae (birthday of the city of Rome), was also a day which was marked by
music, street dancing, and general revelry."
-
Calendar, Aprilis
Illustrated Guides to Food Plants
Green Inheritance: Saving the Plants of the World
Medicinal Plants of the World
Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Food Plants
Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit: An Illustrated Encyclopedia
Food Plants of the World: An Illustrated Guide
The New Oxford Book of Food Plants
by John Vaughan
The New Oxford Book of Food Plants
by Elizabeth Schneider
You can always tell it's
April
By the sound of falling rain
That mystic, mournful music
As it trickles down the drain.
We're told we should be
thankful
For the kiss of April showers
As it washes all the grass clean
And prepares the soil for flowers.
There's another side to
April
Which doesn't bode us good,
When that mini, manic maelstrom
Turns the lawn to liquid mud."
- Thomas Vaughan Jones, O'
To Be in April
"Spring is God's way of
saying, 'One more time!'"
- Robert Orben
"No flowers, no bees;
No bees, no flowers.
Blooming and buzzing,
Buzzing and blooming;
Married and still in Love."
- Michael Garofalo
"We need spring. We need it desperately, and, usually, we
need it before God is willing to give it to us."
- Peter Gzowski
"The festival of Floralia began around the year 258 BCE.
Pagan Romans celebrated for six days, from April 27th to May 3rd, honouring
their Goddess of Spring and of Flowers, Flora. Flora, known as Chloris to
the Greeks, was a beautiful and serene Goddess, the Queen of Spring. She was
married to Zephyrus, the west wind, and her temple is in Aventine.
Floralia was a time a great merriment and rejoicing in ancient Rome. During
the festival, Romans would cast off their habitual white robes for more
colourful garments, especially green ones. They would also deck themselves
and everything around them in flowers then engage in all sorts of
activities. There would be feasting, singing, dancing, and gaming. Offerings
of milk and honey were made to the goddess Flora. Goats and hares meant to
symbolize fertility were let loose in gardens and fields as protectors in
Flora's honour. Singing filled the air and dancers stomped the ground to
awaken nature and bring it back to life. Ancient roman prostitutes in
particular enjoyed this festival as they considered Flora their patron
goddess. So Floralia was especially important to them. They participated in
many events, from performing naked in the theatre to gladiatorial feats.
With the occupation of Rome in many countries of the western world at the
time, especially in Britain and continental Europe, the festival of Floralia
spread, with each country adding its own special touches to the festivities.
And finally, Floralia became MayDay. Many countries choose a May Queen to
preside over the day's activities and children dance around the Maypole.
Some collect flowers on May Eve for the next day and some couples even make
love in their garden to ensure fertility. One belief that has been passed on
is that one should wash one's face with the dew from MayDay morn to obtain
lasting beauty."
- Linda Cassleman,
Floralia
"It's almost here - It's safe to say
I saw a Crocus yesterday
Its' colors bright - A lovely thing
My heart Rejoiced! 'Twil soon be Spring!
The winter blues will soon be gone
And birds will soon burst forth in song
The coral bells will gently ring
The Daphne yells "It's almost Spring!"
It's neary here! It's coming fast!
The Robins will appear at last
Oh Wonderous Joy! I too shall sing!
And join in Nature's "Song for Spring"
- M. Garren,
Song for Spring
"Tis
the noon of the spring-time,
Yet never a bird In the wind-shaked elm or the maple is heard;
For green meadow-grasses wide levels of snow,
And blowing of drifts where the crocus should blow;
Where wind-flower and violet, amber and white;
On south-sloping brooksides should smile in the light,
O'er the cold winter-beds of their late-waking roots
The frosty flake eddies, the ice crystal shoots;
And, longing for light, under wind-driven heaps,
Round the boles of the pine-wood the ground-laurel creeps,
Unkissed of the sunshine, unbaptized of showers,
With buds scarcely swelled, which should burst into flowers!"
- John Greenleaf Whittier, April
"That age is best which is the first
When youth and blood are warmer."
- Robert Herrick
" 'Tis spring; come out to
ramble
The hilly brakes around,
For under thorn and
bramble
About the hollow ground
The primroses are found.
And there's the windflower chilly
With all the winds at
play,
And there's the Lenten
lily
That has not long to stay
And dies on Easter day."
- A. E. Housman,
The Lent Lilly, 1896
by Oliver Flippi
by Beth Chatto
by Gale Weinstein
by Eric Johnson
by Kathleen Bresnel
by Ortho
by Warren Jones
"April is no month for
burials."
- Leo Cox,
Rite of Spring
"Black butterflies
making love -
April moon."
- Mike
Garofalo, Cuttings
"Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trails its wreath;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure;
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?"
- William Wordsworth, Lines Written in Early
Spring
"I stuck my
head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face. "
- Langston Hughes
"Winter's done, and April's in
the skies,
Earth, look up with laughter in your eyes!"
- Charles G. D. Roberts,
An April Adoration, 1896
"All through the long winter, I
dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into
the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar."
- Helen Hayes
Months and Seasons
Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Verses, Lore, Myths, Holidays
Celebrations, Folklore, Reading, Links, Quotations
Information, Weather, Gardening Chores
Compiled by Mike Garofalo
"Daisies smell-less, yet most
quaint,
And sweet thyme true,
Primrose, first born child of Ver,
Merry Spring-time's harbinger."
- Francis Beaumont, Two Noble Kinsmen
"For every
person who has ever lived there has come, at last, a spring he will never
see.
Glory then in the springs that are yours. "
- Pam Brown
"Narcotic greens
narcotic greens
like reeling firmaments disclose
in their appearing randomness
the sweetest means that you or she
or any wandering Thales might
choose to be
wonder-struck with
at the moment
when we die"
- Marianne Bluger, In
April
by Nichole Faires
by Carleen Madigan
by Bret Markham
by Kathy Harrison
"I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils."
- William Wordsworth
"The pedigree of honey does not concern the
bee, a clover, anytime, to him, is aristocracy."
- Emily Dickinson
"In spring when maple
buds are red,
We turn the clock an hour ahead;
Which means, each April that arrives,
We lose an hour out of our lives.
Who cares? When autumn birds in flocks
Fly southward, back we turn the clocks,
And so regain a lovely thing
That missing hour we lost in spring."
- Phyllis McGinley,
Daylight Savings Time
"Around a flowering tree, one finds many insects."
- Proverb from Guinea
"Keep your
faith in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the spring
when it is gone."
- Roy R. Gilson
"The day the
Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring."
- Bern Williams
"Spring is the
Period
Express from God.
Among the other seasons
Himself abide,
But during March and April
None stir abroad
Without a cordial interview
With God."
- Emily
Dickinson, Spring is the Period, #844
"Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more
fools in it than ever."
- Charles Lamb
"I smile, of course,
And go on drinking tea,
Yet with these April sunsets, that somehow recall
My buried life, and Paris in the Spring,
I feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world
To be wonderful and youthful, after all."
- Henry James, Portrait of a Lady
"Hail in the
Spring, a start of new beginnings.
Creativity awe-inspiring gives a reason to be living.
Plant life showing life anew, a wonder to be found.
New born lambs playing in the fields, birds nesting all around
People enjoying the sun and the warmth, feeling good to be alive.
Spring gives a purpose to our lives, a touch of Paradise."
- Kay M.
Sutton, Bring in the Spring
"This I saw on
an April day:
Warm rain spilt from a sun-lined cloud,
A sky-flung wave of gold at evening,
And a cock pheasant treading a dusty path
Shy and proud.
And this
I found in an April field:
A new white calf in the sun at noon,
A flash of blue in a cool moss bank,
And tips of tulips promising flowers
To a blue-winged loon."
- James Hearst,
In April
"Forsythia is pure joy. There is not
an ounce, not a glimmer of sadness or even knowledge
in forsythia. Pure, undiluted, untouched joy."
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"Cloud-topped
and splendid, dominating all
The little lesser hills which compass thee,
Thou standest, bright with April's buoyancy,
Yet holding Winter in some shaded wall
Of stern, steep rock; and startled by the call
Of Spring, thy trees flush with expectancy
And cast a cloud of crimson, silently,
Above thy snowy crevices where fall
Pale shrivelled oak leaves, while the snow beneath
Melts at their phantom touch. Another year
Is quick with import. Such each year has been.
Unmoved thou watchest all, and all bequeath
Some jewel to thy diadem of power,
Thou pledge of greater majesty unseen."
- Amy Lowell, Monadnock in Early Spring
"The snow has left the cottage top;
The thatch moss grows in brighter green;
And eaves in quick succession drop,
Where grinning icicles have been,
Pit-patting with a pleasant noise
In tubs set by the cottage door;
While duck and geese, with happy joys,
Plunge in the yard pond brimming over.
The sun peeps through the window pane:
Which children mark with laughing eye,
And in the wet street steal again
To tell each other spring is night."
- John Clare
"A flower's fragrance declares to all the world that
it is fertile, available, and desirable, its sex organs oozing with nectar.
Its smell reminds us in vestigial ways of fertility, vigor, life-force, all
the optimism, expectancy, and passionate bloom of youth. We inhale its
ardent aroma and, no matter what our ages, we feel young and nubile in a
world aflame with desire."
- Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses
"The peace
and beauty of a spring day had descended upon the earth like a benediction.
"
- Kate Chopin
"When March goes on
forever,
And April's twice as long,
Who gives a damn if spring has come,
As long as winter's gone."
- R. L. Ruzicka
by Knut Hamsun
by Elizabeth Stell
by Jeff Lowenfels
by James Nardi
by Christin Ditchfield
by Helmut Kohnke
by William Bryant Logan
"Kind hearts are the gardens;
kind thoughts are the roots;
kind words are the flowers;
kind deeds are the fruits."
- English Proverb
Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.
"April rain is here again;
Hear it pitter, pitter, patter,
On the leaves and on the trees,
See it spitter, spitter, spatter.
Rain, oh rain, don't go away
We need you for flow'rs in May;
Drip, drip, drop and do not stop,
Send a little rain our way."
- Nina B. Hartford,
April Rain
"There is
not any haunt of prophecy,
Nor any old chimera of the grave,
Neither the golden underground, nor isle
Melodious, where spirits gat them home,
Nor visionary south, nor cloudy palm
Remote on heaven's hill, that has endured
As April's green endures; or will endure
Like her remembrance of awakened birds,
Or her desire for June and evening, tipped
By the consummation of the swallow's wings."
- Wallace Stevens,
Sunday Morning
"Spring won't let me stay in
this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply
again. "
- Gustav Mahler
"Is it so
small a thing
To have enjoyed the sun,
To have lived light in the spring,
To have loved, to have thought, to have done?"
- Matthew Arnold,
Empedocles on Etna, 1870
April's Moons
"Ashes Moon, Awakening Moon, Big Spring Moon, Big Summer
Moon, Black Oaks Tassel Moon, Broken Snowshoe Moon, Budding Time Moon,
Budding Trees Moon, Bullhead Moon, Cherry Blossom Moon, Daisy Moon, Moon,
Egg Moon, Moon, Fish Moon, Flower Moon, Frog Moon, Glittering Snow on Lake
Moon, Grass Moon, Gray Goose Moon, Great Sand Storm Moon, Green Grass Moon,,
Growing Moon, Half Spring Moon, Hare Moon, Ice Breaking in the River Moon,
Leaf Split Moon, Loon Moon, Maple Moon, Maple Sugar Moon, Maple Sap Boiling
Moon, Moon of Greening Grass, Moon of Red Grass Appearing, Moon of the Big
Leaves, Moon of the Red Grass Appearing, Moon of Windbreak, Moon When Geese
Return in Scattered Formation, Moon When Nothing Happens, Moon When the
Geese Lay Eggs, Moon When They Set Indian Corn, Peony Moon, Pink Moon,
Planter's Moon, Planting Corn Moon, Planting Moon, Poinciana Moon, Red Grass
Appearing Moon, Ring Finger Moon, Snowshoe Breaking Moon, Spring Moon,
Sprouting Grass Moon, Strawberry Moon, Strong Moon, Sugar Maker Moon, Summer
Moon, Sweet Pea Moon, Tulip Moon, White Lady Moon, Wildcat Moon, Willow
Moon, Wind Moon, Wisteria Moon, Yellow Moon"
- Kerrdulne,
Beyond the Fields We Know
"Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of
Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly -- and Lo! The Bird is on the Wing.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having
writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
- Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
"In
many ways April is a kind of down time, shoulder season, off-peak, a
kind of gray zone between the big winter events and the promise of summer.
So perhaps it is the crocuses, the slightly warmer days, the lengthening
hours of light that makes April also about poetry. Popularly conceived of as
off-peak, the practice of poetry seems to fit in with the promise of the season.
- Loss Pequeno Glazier, Poems for April
"The cool wind blew in my
face and all at once I felt as if I had shed dullness from myself.
Before me lay a long gray line with a black mark down the center. The
birds were singing. It was spring. "
- Burl Ives
"When the grass
was closely mown,
Walking on the lawn alone,
In the turf a hole I found,
And hid a soldier underground.
Spring
and daisies came apace;
Grasses hide my hiding place;
Grasses run like a green sea
O'er the lawn up to my knee."
- Robert Louis Stevenson, The Dumb Soldier
"The Roman Goddess
of Love 'Aprilis' was honoured when naming the month of 'April'. As part of
the seasonal calendar April is the time of the 'Growing Moon' according to
Pagan beliefs and the period described as the 'Moon of the Red Grass
Appearing' by Black Elk (Black Elk Speaks, Neihardt). It is also the last
month of 'Imbolc', before 'Beltaine'. Mark, of the gospels, features as a
strong influence within the early Celtic church at this time of year (see
February introduction). The need to toil the land, to work to achieve the
ends is further symbolised by his work, that of spreading the news of the
gospels and in the significance of the pilgrimage, the journey to achieve
enlightenment. Early pilgrims were influenced by the laws of nature, in a
similar way to the pre-Christians belief and practice of ritual and folklore
related to nature, reading the actions of animals to lead them to a place of
rest. Most important in this month are the cattle or oxen, the deer or stag,
and of course the ram (Aries). The spirit was believed to be renewed in this
month and therefore there was a need to let go of unnecessary worries and
focus on the purpose, the commitment of faith and practice, to resurrect the
slumbering energies if the months ahead were to be of service to the deities
and God. 'Brigid' (1 February) and 'Columcille' (7 June) were joint
protectors of cattle and it was practice at this time to hope that the
protection asked for during the period of Samhain had been granted and that
the cattle would be healthy, so ensuring that when winter returned meat
would be plentiful providing strength in the months of darkness (Samhain and
Imbolc)."
- April -
Mystical World Wide Web
"Once
a day and sometimes more
I look out my day dream door
To see if spring is out there yet
I'm really anxious, but mustn't fret.
I see the snow a melting down
and lots of mud and slush around
I know the grass will surely sprout
and birds and flowers will come about.
But why oh why does it take so long?
I'm sure the calendar can't be wrong.
Sunshine fills my heart with cheer
I wish that spring were really here."
- Edna T.
Helberg, Longing for Spring
"I love the spring.
For every day
There's something new
That's come to stay.
Another bud
Another bird
Another blade
The sun has stirred."
by Karan Davis Cutler
by
Juliette de Bairacli and Heather Wood Levy
by Juliette de Barcali Levy
by Scott Cunningham
by Andrew Chevallier
"I want to do to you what
spring does with the cherry trees."
- Pablo Neruda
Astrological Signs: Aries, March 21 - April 20
Astrological Signs: Taurus, April 21 - May 20
April Birthstones: Diamond
"April comes like an idiot,
babbling and strewing flowers."
- Edna St. Vincent Millay
"All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines—
Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches—
They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar wind—
Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf
One by one objects are defined—
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf
But now the stark dignity of
entrance—Still, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted they
grip down and begin to awaken."
- William Carlos Williams, Spring and All
"April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day occurs
annually on April 1. The day is generally observed by playing a practical
joke on a "victim" who soon becomes known as an April Fool. This
custom is thought to have started in France during the 16th century but the
British are credited with bringing it to the United States. The
commonly accepted origin of April Fool's Day involves changes in the
calendar. At one time, the New Year celebration began on March 25 and ended
on April 1. However, in 1582, King Charles IX adopted the Gregorian calendar
and accepted the beginning of the new year as January 1. Those who refused
to acknowledge the new date or simply forgot received foolish gifts and
invitations to nonexistent parties. The butt of such a prank was known as a
"poisson d'avril" or "April fish."
-
April's Fool's Day
"Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;
To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!"
- L.H. Bailey
"When spring comes the grass
grows by itself. "
- Lao Tzu, Tao
Te Ching
"If spring came but once a
century instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an
earthquake and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in
all hearts to behold the miraculous change. "
- Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
"Spring was moving in the
air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark
and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. "
- Kenneth Grahame
"Lilacs, False Blue, White, Purple,
Colour of lilac,
Your great puffs of flowers
Are everywhere in this my New England ...
Lilacs in dooryards
Holding quiet conversation with an early moon;
Lilacs watching a deserted house; ...
Lilacs, wind-beaten, staggering under a lopsided shock of bloom,
You are everywhere."
- Amy Lowell
"Flora, , Goddess of Spring,
Flowers, and youthful pleasures The Queen of Spring is a beautiful and
serene Goddess. She was married to Zephyrus, the west wind. Flora is the
twin sister to Faunus, the god of wild creatures, originally was called
Sabine was also known as Chloris to the Greeks. It was a celebration
of Nature in full blossom, a carnival of sexual fun and liberty and marked
by the consumption of oceans of grog. Beans and other seeds were planted,
representing fecundity. Originally a movable feast controlled by the
condition of the crops and flowers, it’s believed to have been instituted in
238 BCE under the command of an oracle in the Sibylline books, with the
purpose of gaining from the goddess the protection of the blossoms. Games
were instituted in honour of Flora at that time, but were soon discontinued
before being restored in 173 BCE in the consulship of L Postumius Albinus
and M Popilius Laenas as a six-day festival, after storms had destroyed
crops and vines. Offerings of milk and honey were made on this day and
the surrounding five days, which comprise the Florifertum. The city would
have been decorated in flowers, and the people would wear floral wreaths or
flowers in their hair. Day and night there were games, pantomimes, theatre
and stripteases with people of all classes in their brightest clothes. Goats
and hares were let loose as they represented fertility. Gift-giving for the
season included small vegetables as tokens of sex and fertility."
- May Day
and the Roman Floralia
"What delights us in the spring is more a sensation than
an appearance, more a hope than any visible reality. There is something in
the softness of the air, in the lengthening of the days, in the very sounds
and odors of the sweet time, that caresses us and consoles us after the
rigorous weeks of winter."
- Philip Gilbert Hamerton
"The flowers anew, returning
seasons bring! But beauty faded has no second spring."
- Ambrose Philips
"Just now the lilac is in bloom
All before my little room."
- Rupert Brooke
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April - Mystical World Wide Web
Aprilis Calendar, Societas Via Roma By M. Moravius Horatius Piscinus.
Can Teach Songs and Poems of Spring
Cloud Hands Blog by Mike Garofalo
Cuttings - April. Haiku, Concrete and Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo.
Flora, Roman Goddess. Feast Day, Floralia, April 27th - May 3rd
Floralia, Encyclopedia of Rome
Floralia - Encyclopedia Mythica
Floralia, Florales Ludi Festival, W. Smith's Dictionary of Green and Roman Antiquities, 1875
Flowers: Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Lore
The Green Man Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Notes, Lore, Poems.
Greetings, Lore and Customs for Springtime
High Days, Seasonal Celebrations, Wheel of the Year, NeoPagan Holidays
Hounen Matsuri Festival, Japan. Celebration of the male aspect of fertility. March 15th.
Major Holidays of Rome: April to June. By Jenni Hunt. ADF Publications, Roman Rituals
March: Quotes, Poems, Links, Lore
May: Quotes, Poems, Links, Lore
Native American Lore for April
Neopagan Celebrations in April
One Old Druid's Final Journey: The Notebooks of the Librarian of Gushen Grove
Ôstarâ (Ēostre) Germanic fertility Goddess.
Pulling Onions by Mike Garofalo
Quotes for Gardeners. Over 3,800 Quotes arranged by over 250 topics.
Red Bluff, California. Natural History Studies at our Home and Gardens. By Karen and Mike Garofalo.
Sizdah Be-Dar, Iranian/Persian Holiday, Joy and Solidarity Celebrated around April's Fool's Day
Spring and Easter Stories and Poems
Spring: Quotes, Poems, Sayings and Quips for Gardeners
Spring: Links and Ideas for Teachers
Trees: Poems, Quotes, Links and Resources
Venus, Roman Goddess, based on Aphrodite, Greek Goddess. April 1st Festival in Rome.
Walpurgis Nacht (Night) on Apirl 30th
by Judith Couchman 
by Donald Norfork 
by Pamela Woods
Return to the Top of this Webpage
Typical Weather
for Our Area Normally, in April, we have daytime high
temperatures of 64ºF, nighttime low temperatures of 42ºF, and we get 2.7 inches
of rain.
Our Paths in the Valley Blog Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, quotes, and photos.
Weather Lore More Weather Lore Naturalist's Almanac
An April flood carries away both the frog and his brood.
April showers bring May flowers.
April is half March, half May.
April weather: rain and sunshine both together.
April weather is more capricious than winter.
April weather likes to repeat the April Fool's Day.
April showers bring Spring flowers.
Don't ever bet on April weather.
April wet, good wheat.
A cold April brings us bread and wine.
Oak
before Ash and we're in for a splash,
Ash before Oak and we're in for a soak.
Return to the Top of this Webpage
Typical Weather
for Our Area Normally, in April, we have daytime high
temperatures of 64ºF, nighttime low temperatures of 42ºF, and we get 2.7 inches
of rain.
Red Bluff Gardening Notebooks of Karen and Mike Garofalo
Clouds Hands Blog Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, quotes, and photos.
Mow lawns and field.
Watering as needed.
Clean up and weed vegetable gardens.
Dig, roto-till, and amend garden soil.
Clean up hiding places for bugs.
Protect new tree trunks from sun - white paint.
Fertilize berry vines.
Enjoy the many roses, pyracanthas, trees, lavender and bottlebrush in bloom.
Spray trees and shrubs - borers.
Plant summer vegetables.
Shape shrubs.
Weed, weed, weed ....
Fertilize lawns.
Prune shrubs after flowering.
Write a poem. Keep a garden journal.
Plant perennials.
Prune evergreens.
Plant seeds.
Hummingbird feeders cleaned and in place.
Remove dead branches and trees.
Use straw as mulch.
Don't get sunburnt.
Flush driplines and check to make sure they are working properly.
Sit and observe.
Oregon State University April Tips
Earth Wise Creations April Tips - Zone 9
Seasonal Garden Chores - Links
Top Garden Projects for April in the Pacific Northwest by Ed Hume
52 Weeks in the California Garden by Richard Smaus
April Gardening Tips from Ortho
The Garden Helper Tips for April - Northern U.S.
Gardening Tips - April - New York Botanical Garden
The Gay Gardener - Monthly Chores
Return to the Top of this Webpage
Photographs by Karen and
Mike Garofalo from Red Bluff, California
Red Bluff Gardens - Comparison from 1998 - 2007
Red Bluff Gardening Notebooks of Karen and Mike Garofalo
Cloud Hands Blog Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, quotes, and photos.
All photographs below were taken by Karen Garofalo.
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The Spirit of Gardening
Website
Over 3,800 Quotations, Poems, Sayings, Quips, One-Liners, Clichés, Quotes, and
Insights
Arranged by Over 250 Topics
Over 15 Megabytes of Text
Over 21 Million Webpages (excluding graphics) Served to Readers Around the World
From January 1, 1999 through March 1, 2011
This webpage has been online since January 1999
Compiled by Mike Garofalo from Red
Bluff, California
E-Mail
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Mike improve and maintain this webpage?
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the Internet in July of 2002.
This webpage was last modified or updated on April 22, 2012.
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