<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="elementToProof" style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cycles</div><div class="elementToProof" style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br></i></div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why don't we stop for a minute,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">turn away from the news,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and take some cues from the earth?</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baby Spring has arrived once more.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tiny new leaves sprout</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on the Japanese maple</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the little pomegranate trees</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the back yard.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pink and white blossoms on</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">neighborhood plum and cherry trees,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the sunny daffodils rising up,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">have all returned in due time.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the earth responds</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to the abuses we have</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">heaped on her by giving us</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more wind, more rain (or no rain at all),</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more floods, more fires,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the seasons continue to cycle,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the tides rise and fall,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and days and nights come and go.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As do we.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything passes.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything begins anew,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">despite the chaos.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, when our storms of feelings</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rage and spill over,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">let's stop and breathe,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">attune to the rhythms of</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the turning and returning earth</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rather than to her calamities.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why not rest in the spaces</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">between breaths,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">between catastrophes,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">between upheavals?</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why not simply revel in rebirth,</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the flowering Baby Spring, and</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in our love for the earth</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and for each other?</div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></div><div class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Maya Spector</div></div></body></html>