A Demi-God Welcomes Spring Poem by Daniel Brick

Earth's increase, foison plenty,
Barns and garners never empty,
Vines with clust'ring bunches growing,
Plants with goodly burden bowing;
Spring come to you....
CERES in Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST

Now Spring arises from
deep sources we trust every year
to fulfill their bond with Nature.
Life pours forth from there,
and spreads outward into a finite
distance we cannot track. For us
it is simply everywhere the World
as Spring. It is a story we cannot
cause or stop, but we read again
and again in measureless delight.
With happiness so enveloping,
how is it we can still have
poor thoughts and find only
a poverty of spirit in our lives?

Let me begin my answer with green
thoughts, ignoring those details
which blur the real into fiction.
Living in the moment is the path
to joy, but abide awhile with me
in the vexed world of thought
before you surrender to the season.

I speak to you who make yourselves
my worthy companions, and help me dream
this season in absolute detail. I know
for certain, in one of our fluctuating
futures, you will take every step
by my side to fulfill our holy mission.
Look - look deeply into the shimmering
morning light, and know that future is now!

It is not a task resolved by will
or command, but by quiet participation.
Spring itself is real enough, still it
displays a presence, not a being.
Its presence can be made continuous
as we breathe its air, circulate
its freshness, carry its joy to
a higher plateau from which we
will glimpse Eternity...
That's why I call this participation
a holy mission. If we, merely denizens
of the surface, can summon our finest
desire with total sincerity,
the World itself will submit that goodness
into the universal working of things.
Then we, co-creators with higher powers,
will have turned a presence into a being -
A transient but beautiful season ensues
for all to love and enjoy, and Nature
thrives through our good deed.

Now! I summon you to awake
from this of sleep of thought
that has closed your senses. I bid
you to open your senses. Before you looms
the Portal of Spring, a huge tree that
spreads its yellow-green leaves
into the yellow-green light. Just walk
under its canopy and breathe freely.
Cross this Portal in an instant
and step into your happiness!