Pretty pink blooms, scent sweet as summer, gathered by a dreamy eyed girl with auburn braids. “Smell them Marilla, drink them in” and the pretty girlish laugh fills the house as the springtime fills her soul.
the auburn haired girl is a girl no longer, but she still gathers the pretty flowers every spring, the gentler joy of young womanhood a soft light in her gray-green eyes, the springtime still intoxicating her laughter and her soul.
Soon to be a mother, her body burdened with the weight of a precious child, her eyes filled with a new wisdom and joy as she plans and waits. The springtime beckons from her window, but she cannot go out. A weather beaten old sailor, with eyes as blue as the sea he loves, and a laugh as deep as it’s rumble, brings her the pink blooms faithfully and the joy of spring fills both the old soul and the young.
Years have passed, and the young mother has laid one sweet little girl in the grave, soon to be followed by the weather beaten sailor. But a little boy with dimples and a delightful laugh lives on, her pride and joy. He too, smells the intoxicating delight of spring and he rushes back to his mother, his arms full of sweet smelling blossoms, “Isn’t springtime lovely mother dearwums?” and she agrees that it couldn’t possibly be lovelier.
The boy is now a man, and a great war, ripping apart nations and hearts all at once, has called him away from her. The springtime loveliness is like a knife to her wounded soul, but she carries on through it all. Her second son, a slender youth with eyes like poetry, and a great courage buried underneath all of his fear brings his mother flowers, and they both forget the anguish inside of them for a moment.
All three of her sons have gone to the front, and the light that her sensitive poet brought to the world has been blotted out forever. As grief fills her soul, she feels that there is no room for springtime there. A small boy taps her on the shoulder, and looks up at her from beneath serious black brows. “I know you have no sons left to bring you flowers, so I brought you some in their place.”
And as she crushes that little body in a tight embrace, she knows that while there is springtime there is always hope.
