Spring is my favorite season. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s really pretty spectacular. Every year, I’m reminded of The Secret Garden — with birds, blooms, sprouts, and a haunting transitional haze. The moon becomes a barometer for the maturity of the season, the sky clearing as it progresses.

This song has a special Spring flavor for me, in part because the lyrics are a collection of haikus written during the Spring season years ago. It was a daily creative practice for a while, and I always wanted to write a song where the lyrics were primarily Haikus. The early melodic rhythm for this song lended itself to the Haiku perfectly. As Haikus aim to communicate a natural setting in such a small space of words, so this song attempts to pack as much imagery into every phrase.

Each song in this series is intensely personal, but this one is the tamest in that regard. Perhaps a good (and safe) way to begin. It speaks subtly to the transition between winter and spring, not just in nature but in our lives. Self-protection is an illusion, but winter makes us feel that it’s possible, as though we are bears in hibernation. As the Spring emerges, we re-enter the world, tentatively at first, and then, sometimes all at once, unabashedly — displayed unrepentant in our area by the cherry trees and the tulips.

SPRING

Winter gales turn warm
Steep the air in unseen spores
Sun hides and sun seeks

Pepper tufted wing
Nestling in the neck of night
Submission takes flight

Water, you’ve got me in a mood
Winter frees (freeze) our solitude

Springtime punches in
Full moon floats in fevered sky
A feracious sigh

Cold to warm embrace
Proud fingers have memories
Living work of art

Water, you’ve got me in a mood
Winter frees (freeze) our solitude