Today by Billy Collins

 

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

 

that made you want to throw 

open all the windows in the house

 

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,

indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

 

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

 

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

 

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

 

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

 

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

 

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

 

Opening poem chosen and read by Nancy L.

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A spring day so perfect! The sun hid behind the clouds as I walked, but the cloudiness made the pinks and purples and greens all that more radiant! Buds were bursting forth in joy and new life… birds were singing wildly. All around me spoke of renewal, resurrection, and grace. My gratitude and awe were overflowing! I felt unconstrained by earthly bounds… this beauty has to be a part of a greater whole beyond our known universe… one with all of creation and God.

As I walked on I thought of the glass paperweight being broken open in the poem. It made me smile…. releasing the inhabitants from their snow-covered cottage so they could walk out, holding hands and squinting into this larger dome of blue and white… I envisioned the azaleas, dogwood and Spanish moss beautifully encased inside a small glass paperweight. Then the globe was broken open and the natural creations stood within the larger dome of blue and white and gray. And with one more opening, this dome expanded again beyond this earthly realm, as I stood in awe of the spaciousness of creation and its Creator.  

Photos and reflection by Nancy L.