Spring Cleaning My Psyche
April Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Reflect”
Falling into pieces from winter’s chrysalis.
At the beginning of his poem, The Wasteland, T.S. Elliot calls April the cruelest month; it mixes memory and desire, and stirs dull roots with spring rain. April is filled with the prodding call to venture out into life and the world after:
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow…
I don't find April cruel but I recognize it as the annual disruptor of my inner life.
I love the coziness of winter, the cold gray days when I can walk the beach alone except for the sandpipers, or stay home wrapped up in a great read. Then April arrives like the sound of someone busy in the kitchen, and I have to get out of bed and go downstairs to see what’s happening.
When I was much younger and less aware of the effect April had on me, I would go shopping for summery clothes in bright colors, and things to freshen up my tired living spaces. I rushed around, starting a hundred new ideas all at once, working late as the sun set later, and somehow never feeling tired.
Now I know better; new things will come and I will welcome them, but I take my time. My head still explodes with new or newly remembered thoughts, but I let them fall and see where they land before I pick them up, turn them over, and feel their measure.
Like a creature emerging from a chrysalis, I need a little time to settle within myself; to be warmed by the light and sniff the air before taking flight.
This story is a counterpoint to an earlier Six-Word Photo Story I wrote, called At the Tipping Point of Winter
Thanks for reading!
