April 27, 2006

California Lament

The rains are over, the winter is past.
The horrible winds are here at last.

The sun is shining and it looks like May,
But the gale-force wind gives the month away.

The calendar says April, but I know it�s March.
My skin is itchy and my lips are parched.

The steady showers turned our hillsides green.
But with wind, the moisture will leave the scene.

And soon, as we drive through the countryside,
We will see that the greenery has up and died.

So be thankful when you have your stormy weather.
The sunshine and rain make your landscape better.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.
All sunshine and no rain kills Mother Nature's joy.

But I will absorb all the beauty now here,
Because it is gone for the rest of the year.

I know I am no poet. Not really. I just play around with it. And I don�t do much of that. Real poets WORK at their craft. I don�t even spend time with it. This �poem� took me about ten minutes to write.

This is the way it happens. The first two lines come floating up from �who knows where. They hang around, persistently buzzing around in my mind impatiently for an all-too-brief period of time. If, within a reasonable amount of time, I do not take them seriously and grab a notepad or run for my computer�no more will follow.

But IF, and that�s a big IF � I take the initiative to preserve these two lines for posterity, then the rest of the lines just come tumbling onto the paper almost like automatic writing. I don�t think ahead to know what is coming. Or how it is going to end for that matter. However, I do know when it HAS ended. And my poems (more like limericks) are all mercifully short, with few exceptions.

Getting back to the California Lament, the weather forecasters, AKA meteorologists, keep informing us that the rains are over. And in SoCal when they say �over�, they mean �till next year. Our seasons do not consist of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. They are the seasons of Wet & Green, Hot & Dry, Dry & Wind (and fires), and then around the holidays, the final season of Dry, Warm, &Waiting for Wet to Arrive. And then we start all over. But honestly, Wet & Green is the best. If you ever want to see this part of the country at the height of its glory, visit from about now until the end of May. That is right before Hot & Dry arrives.

�They� tell us the rains are over. But we had delightful little thundershowers today.

Maybe �they� don�t know everything.

This is a highly treasured symbol of our area. The �Live Oak�. They are never cut down, but sometimes relocation is permitted. If it reminds you of �Little House on the Prairie�, well, this is where that series was filmed.

This photo was taken recently from a hillside overlooking our valley. You can see why we appreciate �Wet & Green� season.

Text � copyright 2003 - 2008 The Homespun Philosopher

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