For Spring Dreams Lightly

Maybe this says it:

Mistily wafting
Jasmine blossoms unending
For Spring dreams lightly.


Years ago I recall attending Sabbath at San Francisco Theological Seminary for the first time. I was living in Salt Lake City then, and had forgotten the moist silkiness of the air of Coastal California.

One thing I admired so much about the San Anselmo neighborhoods surrounding the seminary was the way even the most modest little plots of garden burst with flowers and flowering vines at this time of year, nurtured by the temperate climate and the gentle way the air holds just the right amount of water vapor to keep flower petals velvety and succulent. Heavier than Utah's arid high desert air, but not soggy like the humid Southeast or Gulf Coast states.

Now I live with an arbor of jasmine in the back garden, under which we gather, visit, grill, and eat on these soft spring evenings. Moving through the flowers, the breezes tickles us with fragrant fingers and remind us that California's season's are subtle, and we need to pause and attend to them or they may elude us entirely, as in dreams.

California dreaming, so light and elusive. As optimistic as Spring itself.