"earth how often have
the
doting
fingers of
prurient philosophers pinched
and
poked
thee
, has the naughty thumb
of science prodded
thy
beauty, how
often have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy knees
squeezing and
buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
gods
(but
true
to the incomparable
couch of death thy
rhythmic
lover
thou answerest
them only with
spring)''
"Sweet Spontaneous,'' by E.E. Cummings, who, while he lived in Paris, New York, and elsewhere, remained at heart a quirky, ingenious and skeptical New Englander. He was born in Cambridge, Mass., and died in Madison, N.H. His remains are in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston.
Thursday is the first day of meteorological spring 2018.
