Earth, water, fire and air
Met together in a garden fair
Put in a basket bound with skin.
If you answer this riddle, you'll never begin (Incredible String Band)
The elements are running free…. Sharp rain, blustery wind, even pelting, sleety snow before intense sunlight breaks through again. Clouds gather and clear. The earth is making its own demands; too wet to garden today, but my hands were in the soil yesterday. I grumble about the back ache of weeding, but some part of me craves it. I crouched back on my heels, and watched a peregrine falcon circling high in the sky, pursued by an angry crow. The ravens were calling from the tallest tree in the churchyard opposite: messenger birds, according to Irish lore.
Spring has not just one face, in this country; it can be warm, soothing, raw, challenging, or exhilarating by turns. It goes forwards and backwards and that’s why it is so prolonged, and so beautiful. At the moment, it’s the elemental side of it which is working its magic. Tonight it’ll be back to the element of fire again, as it’s not quite time yet to give up cosy evenings by the woodburner.
Met together in a garden fair
Put in a basket bound with skin.
If you answer this riddle, you'll never begin (Incredible String Band)
The elements are running free…. Sharp rain, blustery wind, even pelting, sleety snow before intense sunlight breaks through again. Clouds gather and clear. The earth is making its own demands; too wet to garden today, but my hands were in the soil yesterday. I grumble about the back ache of weeding, but some part of me craves it. I crouched back on my heels, and watched a peregrine falcon circling high in the sky, pursued by an angry crow. The ravens were calling from the tallest tree in the churchyard opposite: messenger birds, according to Irish lore.
Spring has not just one face, in this country; it can be warm, soothing, raw, challenging, or exhilarating by turns. It goes forwards and backwards and that’s why it is so prolonged, and so beautiful. At the moment, it’s the elemental side of it which is working its magic. Tonight it’ll be back to the element of fire again, as it’s not quite time yet to give up cosy evenings by the woodburner.
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