I Hear Spring Breathing

I Hear Spring Breathing

by Joyce Rupp

I hear Spring breathing softly,

her quiet respiration

rising and falling

through the heavy snow banks

gurgling in the sunshine.

I hear the slow, steady intake

of mid-February air

stirring the awakening crocus.

I hear the sigh

of the oak tree’s terminal buds,

warm wind stretching them out

beneath the turquoise sky.

I hear my own lungs

inhaling and exhaling

with renewed hope,

ready for the coming

of green and the shedding

of all that is grayed

with Winter’s feigned death.

From:  My Soul Feels Lean: Poems of Loss and Restoration

Available March 11, 2013

Joyce Rupp, a sister of the Order of the Servants of Mary (OSM), is an author I have long appreciated.  This poem is from her newest book of 106 meditative poems on loss and restoration.  Though I've only seen the preview, it's on my wish list, and I recommend it from what I've seen.

I have 6 of her books, probably more than any other author, and have worn two of them, Praying Our Goodbyes (c) 1988 and The Star in My Heart:  Experiencing Sophia, Inner Wisdom (c) 1990, to the point of pages falling out!  I have also really used and enjoyed The Cup of Our Life:  A Guide to Spiritual Growth (c) 1997.  My most recent purchase was May I Walk You Home?  courage and comfort for caregivers of the very ill (c) 1999.  I so appreciated it when I cared for my father as he neared death and while I worked as a physical therapist with the elderly.

Now, admittedly, that purchase was a while ago, but I have so many books that if I never bought another and read all day every day, there would still be some unread when I made it to 104 years old! And by then I could probably start all over again, and they would all seem new.  So maybe I'll wait a while before making this purchase.  :-)  Or not...