Spring, Love and a Walk in the Park: My Ode To Spring

Una O’Brien takes a spring walk in the park

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o’er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils, beyond he lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze…..’

Who could sum up this wondrous season of spring as much as the great poet Wordsworth? Yes folks, it has arrived, suitcases and all – the season we call ‘spring-time’! Hope is in the air. Winter’s gloom cast aside (momentarily!) – even the most despondent of beings secretly delights in its glory, though never letting on to all and sundry that he or she is bordering on feeling happy.

Yes, spirits galore are lifted at the prospect of approaching long lazy summer evenings, with a glass of wine on the re-varnished decking. Increased daylight graces us with its presence, allowing us the opportunity for bracing endorphin-induced walks (a welcomed break from the chains of social networking!) along our terrain of choice…the coast, the park, the pier; doggies with tails a-wagging, lapping up the chance to sniff the clean air; lovers strolling hand in hand, with their own stories.  What’s their story? What thoughts do they keep hidden from their other half? Perhaps, he thinking ‘How will I pop the question?’ or ‘I hope she doesn’t find out I’ve been playing away’…perhaps she is thinking ‘At last, in my mid-40’s, I have found the man of my dreams, worth the wait’ or ‘He seems very quiet. I wonder who that new Facebook friend of his is, she is very attractive. Should I be worried?’…the eternal insecurities of the female species!

How wonderful to see an elderly couple arm in arm or zimmerframe in zimmerframe. Is there anything more hope-inducing for ‘that thing called love’? Spring is not all about love and the proactive engagement of the survival of the human race…or is it? Ok maybe, it is a time or renewed vigour in this capacity, the maternity hospitals will be full to the brim come the yuletide season, true, but let us enjoy alas, the colours we have been starved of throughout the oh-so-loooong winter-time…nature on steroids!

Endorphins flowing through the air; time to stock up on the antihistamines for pollen is waiting to attack once more. Oh the perils of summer lie lurking.

Oh yes William, I love to see the daffodils but ‘should I pick a bunch? Will the park keeper notice?  Who would miss 5 or 6 for my vase? Perhaps from a secluded spot amongst the trees. My dog is already there, prompting me not to resist temptation. Hastily I grab a bunch, how absolutely daring of me – hee hee! Spring induces frivolity…good job I brought my satchel, to smuggle the evidence away from the park without witnessing eyes surveying the evidence. My dog wags his tail in approval. We make for home with Wordsworth’s words ringing in my ears.

‘For oft when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood…they flash upon the inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude, and then my heart with pleasure fills…and dances with the daffodils…(perched on my coffee table).

Una O’Brien is an Irish writer.

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