NATURE CAN BE CRUEL
T.S. Eliot Called April the Cruelest Month
Maybe he had allergies
As I write this, Languedoc winds are blowing and my eyes are streaming. It’s April. The ‘cruellest month,’ as T. S. Eliot described it in The Wasteland. Cruel, in his view because April is a time of growth and renewal which creates reason for hope. And hope, as we know all too well, often leads to disappointment.
Kind of like hoping the allergy pills I’ve just popped will stop the sniffing, sneezing and streaming. Maybe Eliot has allergies too. I hold Mother Nature responsible for April’s cruelty. Why make it one of the most beautiful months, flowers blooming everywhere, then fill the blossoms with stuff that makes it impossible to be out there admiring them?
And throwing in gusty winds to blow the stuff everywhere is a masterful touch of cruelty.
Really, MN, we are not amused.
According to the World Health Organisation, allergy is the 4th chronic disease in the world, its prevalence increasing mostly due to climate change — especially in Europe.
