The Twelve Moons of the Year. April (03)

Significant Sentences from The Twelve Moons of the Year by Hal Borland, a chronology of the New England seasons. April 03.

"For spring is change and growth and pattern imposing themselves on what we too often think of as random disorder." p. 112.

"Some people are like ants: give them a warm day and a piece of ground and they start digging." p. 113.

"Spring...now comes the surge and insistence of growth." p. 114.

Dogwood: "...twig-end buds like praying mantis heads and now is full of white-butterfly bloom and green leaves." p. 115.

"When a hickory bud begins to unpack, it opens the big, pink-sheathed buds with a wealth of leaf, blossom and potential twig that would put a magician to shame if he tried to stow so much in so little space." p. 116.

"April is color: pussy willow gray, pollen gold, violet purple, marsh marigold yellow, grass green...all the greens in the spectrum...an astonishment of pastels...." p. 116.

"April is a young world, new as sunrise...." p. 116.

"Nothing is newer than an April morning, nothing more full of wonder than a bud or a seed." p. 116.

"April is an old world made new again...." p. 116.

"And in April, man is here only to see and listen and participate, not to manage or administer." p. 117.

Tomorrow: May, Part One.