May 08 2009

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The Green Unfurling

Posted at 8:43 am under Blog Post

After weeks of alternating rain and sunshine, the grass is a fuller, deeper green than it’s been in six months.  But that’s not what’s captured my attention lately.  Not really.  I am awestruck by the leaf-out all around me – in the bushes, in the trees, and across the forest floor.  It is so sudden and overwhelming that I find it difficult to think of anything else when my eyes fall upon it.  And yes, it feels sudden, even though I had all of April to anticipate it.  Nothing could have prepared me for this kind of green, even though I’ve seen it fifty times before.

Vernal green, Kelly green, the green of a living landscape long since dormant and springing to action.  Wizard of Oz green – a brown and gray world bursting into Technicolor vitality overnight, too green to be real.  I first noticed the green unfurling while running my dog a week or so ago.  A maple leaf no bigger than my thumb rolled out of its bud and yawned.  All I could do was stand there amazed by it.  But now I’ve gone beyond that even.  Now I’m completely overwhelmed.

What kind of world is this, anyway?  How can there be so much green where there was only bleached forest detritus, dark mud and naked branches only a few weeks ago?  I go about my daily affairs the best I can, but all this green distracts me.  I fight back the urge to cast off my clothes and dance through the lilies like some feral naturist drunk on life.  I make a list for the day, look at my watch and pretend that I have it all under control.  But this green unfurling is making mincemeat of my reasoning powers.

Every other day is built around a stint of woods wandering, however brief.  The rest of my life is just some kind of muddling through, a sleepwalk of sorts, full of numbers, ideas and other abstractions.  Head down I start my walks.  Five or ten minutes into them, I look up and see the luminescent green.  Then and only then am I fully aware of being alive.  And my first impression is always the same:  This remarkable world is too beautiful for me to run roughshod over it the way I do.  What was I thinking?

But enough blather already.  A cardinal calls me out even as I write this.  I’ve gotta go.  And maybe, just maybe, after I’ve seen enough songbirds and wildflowers amid the green, I’ll be able to get something constructive done today.  Not that it matters.  Life needs no excuse to exist.  In that regard, I am no exception to the rule.

6 responses so far

6 Responses to “The Green Unfurling”

  1. Andrewon 08 May 2009 at 5:24 pm 1

    Nice post. Love the . ..
    “I fight back the urge to cast off my clothes and dance through the lilies like some feral naturist drunk on life.”
    Why fight it!?
    Then again, maybe you don’t want to give in to impulses that could get you institutionalized.

  2. Deedee Burnsideon 09 May 2009 at 1:54 pm 2

    I love this entry of yours!
    I, too, am so amazed at those tiny green leaves that appear.
    And am amazed at this beautiful natural world that is around us
    (that that still exists!)

  3. Walton 11 May 2009 at 6:56 am 3

    I’d like folks folks to think of me as a rational being, Andrew, even if it isn’t entirely true.

  4. Walton 11 May 2009 at 6:57 am 4

    Deedee, your love of the wild amazes me almost as much as the wild itself.

  5. Deedee Burnsideon 11 May 2009 at 7:39 am 5

    You are totally rational.

  6. PBon 28 May 2009 at 12:29 pm 6

    I’d like folks folks to think of me as a rational being, Andrew, even if it isn’t entirely true.