One of the highlights of my year is the arrival of the first snowdrops in my garden and today was the day.
Tramore was shrouded in muggy fog but deep down under the unpruned hydrangea by the front gate, I caught sight of the gleaming white of snowdrops. This moment symbolises so much to me: light after dark; hope after doubt; courage after falterings; reunion after separation; joy after teardrops …..
Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained. (Seamus Heaney)
… and nature is beaming in the January light.
May all your storms be short-lived.
After yesterday’s post, I felt the need to connect with nature in all her beauty.
I took to the woods with Stan:
From there for a deep cleanse in the sea as the sun was setting.
And home to hot juiced apples with cinnamon and, of course, poetry:
Happiness
A state you must dare not enter with hopes of staying, quicksand in the marshes, and all the roads leading to a castle that doesn’t exist. But there it is, as promised, with its perfect bridge above the crocodiles, and its doors forever open.(Stephen Dunn: from Staying Alive, edited by Neil Astley, Bloodaxe Books).
