in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it’s
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
-e.e. cummings
One of my favorite e.e. cummings poems, “in Just spring,” captures what is best about this time of year and why it is a perfect reminder for us to spend time rather than save it. One of our fantastic caregiver/mom’s, Danielle Bath, whose son has Duchenne muscular dystrophy (the most lethal and common forms of MD), offered up her thoughts on time in our weekly “Q&I: Question and Inspiration With…” segment (You can read it here on our website, filed under the Use Your Voice category). Danielle noted, “I do not save time, I spend it. Time is the one thing you cannot save. Time is spent without even trying. Don’t save time, use the time that you have wisely.”
Unlike fall and winter when seasonal time either crawls or curls up to hibernate completely, spring is Mother Nature’s ultimate wake-up call. She unceremoniously tips us out beds, floods us with light and warmth, nudges us along to say “Get going! Get growing!” And we do our best to rise to the occasion: we plant, we prune, we sweep out and open up, we pick up the pace, we plan for summer vacations, graduations, Easter egg hunts, and weddings. We do, but we could just as well be.
We could just as well use these sweet and tender days at the start of a new season to play in the “mudlucious” and “puddle wonderful” world that cummings describes. We could prize the colored eggs instead of the hunt, we could use our precious extra hour of daylight to visit instead of work, and we could sit with time instead of trying fruitlessly to chase and bottle it like a firefly in June.
Mother Nature is a poor timekeeper. Like Danielle, Mother Nature spends instead of saves, and she cleverly tricks us into “being” through the beauty and wonder of her deeds.
Photo by Jill Anne Castle, Phoenix AZ
