Spring Fever

by C. Margery Kempe

WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,

And smale fowles maken melodye,

That slepen al the night with open ye,

So priketh hem nature in hir corages:

Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…

I always think of these lines from Chaucer when April rolls around. I even recorded them for you so you can hear how the cadences of the poetry roll off the tongue. Spring here in Ireland has been rather mild and even fairly sunny. It has the same effect on everyone, I think: spring fever.

As the poet writes, the warm showers of April offer a change from the harsher winds of March. You can see how the warmth has had a wild effect. Ireland is green in the middle of winter, but with the return of spring it's as if the Emerald Isle said, "Oh, you call that green? I'll show you green!" When I lived in Houston I only realised how much it affected me living in a land that was paved from one end to the other when I returned to New England and could not get enough of the green.

I always quote the wonderful line from García Lorca: "Verde que te quiero verde" or Green, how I love you, green: you cannot imagine just how many different greens there are now that spring has sprung.

And along with the springing vegetation there's the amorous animals, too. The hooded crows and the rooks are nesting in the horse chestnut tree in the square  below my window. Nest making going on everywhere.

Galway is a student town with two universities and a college or two as well. The emo band next door is getting all excited again — I am less so (-_-) and at the Saturday farmer's market you can see even more people than usual, all checking each other out. Shop Street is crowded with people out for a stroll.

Me? I'm longing to go on a pilgrimage, so I'm off to my favourite city on Monday: London! I haven't been there since last fall, so despite the brevity of the trip I will enjoy it. I will be catching a play I've been longing to see, a film that's not widely distributed and seeing my namesake at Butterfly World Project!

After that I'm heading up to Leicester for Alt-Fiction, a terrific small spec fic convention. I'll be staying with the UnBound/Apocalypse Girls crew so it will be lots of fun/house party weekend with baked goods promised. It's always fun to hang out with other authors, too.

After that it's back to the north because I can't stay away from Dundee for too long! My Scotsman awaits. Love is grand.

Filed under: C. Margery Kempe, contemporary romance, erotic romance, fantasy romance, inspiration, Kit Marlowe, paranormal, romance, Romantic Places, science fiction romance, science fiction with romantic elements, What inspires you?, Writer's Life, Writers Conferences