I love how, with the warmth, everyone seems to emerge from sleepy hibernation and the lawns and walkways buzz with sudden activity. Out come the bicyclers and the football players and the picnickers and the sunbathers and the ice cream vendors.
Tonight I saw a couple of girls studying on a blanket-spread, stubbornly using every last second of daylight--until the streetlamps blinked on and they squinted at their books in the orangish glow.
Today I also saw a man crouched by the side of the road, peering into the grass like a child making some grand discovery. Many people passed him by, but as I approached I looked down to see what he was studying. It looked at first like a small pile of dirt, but on closer examination I saw a massive writhing swarm of ants--all concentrated in one small patch of grass.
I crouched down with him, and without diverting his gaze marveled with him for a moment.
Spring is still a miracle to me. I took the long way home yesterday and stopped to look at every bush, every tree in blossom. I felt the tiny buds with my fingers. I collected specimens of colorful flowers and cupped them in my hands.
It made me want to sing all of the springtime hymns:
For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies;
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour,
Of the day and of the night;
Hill and vale and tree and flow'r,
Sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight;
For the mystic harmony,
Linking sense to sound and sight;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.
I've never read or sung that third verse before. It is not included in our hymn book, but I believe it is by the original author. I think it is now my favorite of them all.
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