OK, I'll confess. I don't have the heart or the perseverance of a true gardener. I am sure this is in part due to the prevalence of deer and other two and four-legged critters who have historically loved to nibble on everything that I've planted outdoors. However, I do love to wander through woodlands, examining the vegetation, and I never cease to marvel gleefully at the intensity with which nature sends forth an abundance of vegetation to celebrate the arrival of spring.
Hence, it was that recently I was meandering among the flowering currants, Oregon grape and towering trees in a wooded landscape near Brightwood, Oregon, when suddenly I encountered my first-of-the-year mushrooms, those endearing signs of the affirmation with which nature celebrates the arrival of yet another springtime.
Never mind that the nighttime temperatures have been hovering in the low 30's, nor that the measurable rain has been in the inches, these mushrooms would not be foiled in their attempt to break through the duff and debris that littered the forest floor. They were determined to herald the emergence of spring in their own way.
Early spring fungi (Sarcosoma) cluster together,
rejoicing as the harshness of winter departs.
WELCOME, sweet season of delight,
What beauties charm the wond'ring sight
In thy enchanting reign!
How fresh descends the morning dew,
Whilst op'ning flow'rs of various hue
Bedeck the sprightly plain.
The artless warblers of the grove
Again unite in songs of love,
To bless thy kind return:
But first the lark, who roaring seems
To hail the orb of day, whose beams
With fresh refulgence burn.
The limpid brook that purls along,
The tuneful blackbird's joyous song,
The softly-whisp'ring breeze;
The mossy hills, which now invite,
These with the verdant meads unite,
Th' elated mind to please.
The mind with thoughts of good possest,
With innocence and virtue blest,
Untaught in vice's ways;
May taste those joys by nature giv'n,
May lift th' enraptur'd eye to heav'n,
And their great Author praise.
Stern Winter's gloomy season past,
We see fair Spring advances fast,
With Summer in the rear;
Soon Autumn's shades will interpose,
And a succeeding Winter close
The swift-revolving year.
Of human life an emblem true,
The early morn of youth we view,
In Spring's delightful face;
Meridian life's a Summer's day,
With Autumn fades; its quick decay,
In winter's blast we trace.
Then let us prize each fleeting hour,
Improve the moments in our pow'r,
E'er time shall cease to be;
Then shall our spirits, taking wing,
Be crown'd with an eternal Spring,
From Wint'ry storms set free.
