“The trees are coming into leaf // Like something almost being said”…
…and I feel a need to quote Philip Larkin. Have been leaf watching every morning on the way to work, and now, thanks to clocks change on Sunday, even on the way home too. The wonders of evening daylight.
For Fall in the States, they call those who come to view the trees leaf-peepers. That could hold for the state of my gaze in the mornings.
But spring leaves are different. Perhaps because we wait so long for the spring, we of the north who have already braved it going dark at 3.30 in the winter, and have come out the other side.
This leaf watching only started last year. I think the need for spring increases every year, probably related to a slight increase in SAD symptoms year on year too.
The going home in the dark again is hard to bear. But the arrival of the leaves is a good one, particularly from the top of a double decker bus, coasting through some fairly green parts of Edinburgh, on the way into town.
Once the leaves are out, suddenly it seems as if they’ve been out for ages. The excitement wears off a bit. But for now, I’m convinced I can spot each new nobble, each new growth on the trees’ branches that suggests a leaf is there, hiding under the bark.
What else was it Larkin said about spring?
“Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”