Building Gypsy Rose

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

~Robert Frost

It's such a brief yet glorious moment in time. The apple blossoms were at the peak of their bloom on May 20th. The delicate white petals last for only about a week before spring winds and rain take them to the ground.

I spent much of the afternoon of May 24th in the orchard. A brief shower had dampened the blossoms before skies returned to blue. Bees worked intensely to complete their job. Hummingbirds joined the effort as I wandered the trees trying to capture images of it all. 

A few days later the ground beneath the trees was sprinkled with white. The bloom is over for another year. We now wait for early signs of fruit in the coming weeks.