William Faulkner

Today was the first gardening day of the spring and a day I had completely to myself...no work, no meetings, no deadlines.

I started early with the garage door opened and hauled out all my tools: wheelbarrow, hoe, shovel, rake and other small odds and ends.

With the gardener's tools I worked the day working magic into the ground, into the air, into my soul, I might add.

The sounds of day wove around me as well: the street cleaner, the mechanic down the way, the church bells, a lawn mower from a few streets over.

It was a day of thinking of beauty, of poetry, of good life.

The photo is from last year. Two of my rose bushes died out because of the dreadfully cold winter and that was one of them.

Today also made me think of William Faulkner and his book, "Vision in Spring." Here is a short excerpt:

We dance and dance; the while our faces

Lighten, darken, resume their places

By walls of dark where spikes of bloom

Like censers swing and wall the room

With scented mirrors that beguile

Us with the promise of a smile

Which time alone can now efface,

Which always will return a face

When we draw near, to stir each heart

With memories ere we touch and part.

Harps soothe darkness to appease

The nervous swiftness of our knees

That maze the dark with little lights

To twinkle beyond all empty nights

When we are old, and lonely and wise,

And think and smile, with shadows in our eyes.

William Faulkner