27 February 2007

This is just to say...

This morning was a glorious morning to be on a bike. If I hadn't already missed most of last week due to family illnesses, I'd have probably called in sick just to take a ride down the GW Parkway, or maybe down to Hains Point. Either way, it would have been better than coming into work.

We only had a few weeks of real winter weather, so I'm not complaining about that. It was just beautiful whipping around Dupont Circle this morning with the sun behind the fountain. Seriously you know it would be good riding along the Potomac right now, in the few months we have before the air sticks to you like a wet shirt.

Let me leave you with this gem from Edna St. Vincent Millay:

Spring

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.


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3 comments:

m.a. said...

"I know what I know."

I love that line. This would be a great day to be on a bike. I took my time coming into work today, and for that, I am glad.

Patrick J. Fitzgerald said...

Do you bike in the snow?

Reya Mellicker said...

I love the idiocy of springtime. Dame Edna: Oh yes there IS death. Spring shows us that there is also rebirth. That's what Easter is, Passover. All about rebirth. Can't wait!!

All day yesterday I was tempted to put air in my bike's tires and take a big ride. Though I never got around to it, but sometime this spring I hope to run into you riding your bike next to the river. That is my favorite ride.