It’s been a long year since the pandemic started, one that revealed so much that was already wrong with our world: injustice, violence, and gross inequities.

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere. Amidst so much hardship mixed with hope, the spring always reminds me of a miraculous energy and creativity at the heart of life. 

In honor of the equinox, that transition when the light of day balances the dark of night, I share a poem I wrote many years ago, one spring season. I hope you enjoy it. 

If you’d like to spend some time practicing mindfulness together and renewing your heart, I have a number of sessions coming up in April (donation-based). They're all listed here.

Sending warm wishes,

Oren

_____

Springtime

I care too much for you

  and the daffodil

To cut its stem from her root

  in the earth.

There are other things I could give you.

A smooth grey stone, worn by the sea

Says much in the palm of your hand.

Still, the most precious thing

I cannot give you — time spent

 with your own quiet heart

 silently loving itself.

So I invite you —

give yourself time,

an hour or two to wander.

Morning and evening light are best for this.

Give your feet time to find their way among the stones and roots,

Until you begin to see each tree as an old friend

You’ve been longing to greet.

Give your fingers time to unfold their wonder

Like the new spring buds,

Opening their hands to the unfamiliar, cool air,

Trusting a memory of the sun’s warm touch.

Stop long enough to learn their tongue,

To hear their fresh and gentle voice

Singing from the brown husk of winter.

Visit long enough to read the smile glowing on their lips

As they poke through the ground, press skyward

  and unfurl their skin.

Go to the woods and breathe there.

Place your hands into the burning cold of a spring stream.

Let the water wash over your face.

See the wind ripple and melt the silver surface of a dark pond.

Lie flat across a broad boulder

  and let your belly touch the sky.

Open the world with your arms

  and the sun will greet you –

You, who are becoming spring,

Silently loving yourself.

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