Spring Song

In these mellifluous recordings of two very brief piece I wrote for the clarinet, Mike Halliday captures for us something of the sense of the burgeoning spring. Few if any have surpassed Gerard Manley Hopkins’ depiction of the bursting vibrancy and vitality of nature's rejuvenation in spring: Nothing is so beautiful as Spring – When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing; The glassy pear tree leaves and blooms, they brush The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling. What is all this juice and all this joy? A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy, Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning, Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy, Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning. Hopkins crowds his sonnet with such sensory detail that we are transported and our poetic vision magnified to the point where we can see in the diminutive speckled blue eggs of the thrush, nesting low in trees and bushes, a miniature, earthly version of the blue sky that speaks of heaven on earth. With crowning skill He captures something of the purity and innocence that was present in Eden, and reminds us that the Lord still makes all things new. I love the thought that the thrush’s song cleanses the ear wearied by winter as it echoes through the trees! In case you wondered, Hopkins wrote the word "lord" with a lowercase 'l' ("Christ, lord") not as a mark of disrespect or overfamiliarity, but in order to emphasise an intimate, personal, and immediate connection to Jesus Christ (the maid’s child). It is His presence within the humble, physical, and fleeting nature of spring that bridges the gap between his immensely vivid description of nature and his direct, personal plea to Christ to protect and redeem the innocent minds of children (the "Mayday" girls and boys) before sin snares and sours. Let us join Hopkins in praying for many to be renewed in spirit, at this time when so much and so many find themselves engulfed in mayhem and destruction, and lift our hearts in praise and gratitude to the Lord for the wonders of His created world – and the wondrous ways by which He renews our life and hope.