According to Alfred Lord Tennyson, a young man’s fancies turn to thoughts of love in the spring. Many people have lots of reasons to find spring inspirational. Meanwhile, it’s a silly season. This year, where I live, early March was warmer than early April. One day, a long-sleeved shirt is uncomfortably warm. The next day, we need a jacket over it.

Lots more famous writers besides Tennyson have written what spring turns their thoughts to.

Spring brings new life

Spring drew on…and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that hope traversed them at night and left each morning brighter traces of her steps. – Charlotte Bronte

Spring is when life’s alive in everything.” – Christina Rossetti

Spring adds new life and new beauty to all that is. – Jessica Harrelson

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. – Hal Borland

Spring is the time when everything begins again. – Barbara Kingsolver

The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing. – S. Brown

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. – Rainer Maria Rilke

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. – Ruth Stout

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. – Margaret Atwood

Spring inspires

Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world. – Virgil A. Kraft

I suppose the best kind of spring morning is the best weather God has to offer. – Dodie Smith

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. – Bern Williams

Spring is a season of the soul to regain its strength. – Lailah Gifty Akita

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. – Harriet Ann Jacobs

Spring is a time to celebrate life.” – Lois Lenski

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. – William Shakespeare

Spring is the fountain of love for thirsty winter. – Munia Khan

Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again. – Gustav Mahler

Spring is the time of plans and projects. – Leo Tolstoy

Spring is a time for new beginnings and fresh starts, a time for renewal. – Terry T. Williams

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!” – Robin Williams

Spring is downright crazy

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.” – Henry Van Dyke

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. – Charles Dickens

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. – Doug Larson

Spring is the time of year when it is too late for the ice to melt, but not too late for the flowers to bloom. – Anonymous

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment. – Ellis Peters

It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” – Mark Twain

And now for some silly poems

For years, snatches of an Ogden Nash poem have gone through my head from time to time, but I haven’t been able to remember the whole thing. This post seemed like a good time to look it up.

I did not find it in my anthology of Nash poems. I had trouble finding it online at all. It turned up in some forum thread about a poem by someone else. So here it is again.

Like a Rat in a Trap, by Ogden Nash

After various guesses at last I’ve guessed
Why in spring I feel so depressed
When the robins begin to play
Summer is just a step away
Then hardly the summer has commenced
When autumn is what you’re up against
And once that autumn has muscled in on you
Winter is waiting to begin on you
So spring isn’t spring, but otherwise
Just a prelude to winter, which I despise.

My search for that poem turned up another one often attributed to Nash, or perhaps e. e. cummings. Actually, it’s by the most prolific poet of all times, Anon Y. Mous

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz,
I wonders where the birdies is.
They say the birds is on the wing.
Ain’t that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird.

Or this variant:

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris’,
I wonder where the birdie is?

There he is up in the sky,
He dropped some whitewash in my eye!

I’m alright, I won’t cry,
I’m just glad that cows can’t fly!

The last two remind me of an old Burma Shave ad. Most readers probably don’t remember when Burma Shave had little poems along the road, with just a few words on successive signs. They were one of the little joys of traveling. One said, “Spring has sprung and grass has riz where last year’s reckless driver iz. Burma Shave”

Drive carefully, windows down to appreciate the spring breeze or not.