Burst

First Face of Spring

BURST (for Ash Wednesday)

As if to kiss

First the air, the breath of Life

Then my forehead

With your burst of arrival here

In my driveway

I am blessed, just as I am.

For being mortal,

impermanent,

imperfect

Not with ash, dust to dust*

Yet with a daffodil kiss

That softens, deepens my inhale

My breath of life

Pausing me here

to receive,

to remind,

to renew

My commitment to Spring

What still yet

to release,

to forgive,

to surrender

to the healing alchemy of Winter?

So that I may make space—

Prayerful space

Intentional space

For the air of Spring

For the breath of new Life

Rising in me,

Rising all around

As if to seal with a flower’s kiss

My annual marriage to Spring

As if to uphold

The promise of Lent**

With a long slow purifying walk

Down the aisle towards Spring

Making sacred space

With the colorful bursts

Lining my driveway

As if kissed on the forehead

By the Breath of Life…

With a flower’s grace

I am already enough,

just as I am.

*Christians/Catholics have received a sign of the cross with ashes on their forehead at the beginning of this season as a reminder of mortal failings and an invitation to receive God’s forgiveness.

**Lent comes from the Middle English word “lente,” which means springtime, and signals the coming of spring.

—in honor of my mothers favorite flower on her birthday