By Tom Farris
Spring! The time of eggs, rabbits and resurrection!
The time when young men fall in love
Just as Lent comes around.
The time when you don’t know if
You need a sweater or no shirt at all.
It’s a peaceful time and a horrible time
When even as the wind gently caresses the birds, bees,
flowers, trees, constructions cones and even roadkill,
Midterms rack our brains with intellectual adrenaline
And hangovers hang over our first days of break
Like rotten eggs over our chest and stomach.
Yes, there is Death, even in Life
As we grow only through Antagonism.
Where was I last year during this time?
Dragging my lame foot through the door
To some Old Cathedral carved
With some French saint statues,
Resting until I prayed enough to gather
My strength for the struggle to come
Walking as a cripple the cobblestones of Nantes
For a cane and a croissant.
Where was I the last couple of weeks?
On a small dock, away from the crowd and bustle
Of the French Quarter and the drinking streets
I sat and contemplated upon the invisible
Schools of fish in the wide Mississippi
And upon the calm expanse of the water
With colors too subtle and varied to list.
We talked of the creation of things,
How Mark Twain made his name.
It was a well-wrought solemnity,
Reflecting upon the life it still gives.
I guess the thing about Spring Break
Is that we can grow because of Beauty too.
