The coming of Spring
“.... a beautiful window into the eternal promise and the loveliness of spring. The bluebell woodlands of Coolmakee, near the town of Fermoy, offers an image of nature at its very natural best.”
Local wordsmith Kevin Walsh eloquently describes this colourful Spring scene at Coolmakee, Fermoy; a scene appreciated by so many more now that we’re all that bit more familiar with what’s on our doorstep, having endured a 5Km limit for several months. An uplifting scene as Spring has brought renewed life to nature, which is once again waking from its Winter slumber, to lift the spirits of those willing to pay attention.
“There is not a hint of any trace of human activity, not even the most slender threadlike pathway winding through the undergrowth and among the trees. Instead a vision of nature resplendent in bright pristine fresh green with all the vigour and energy of this time of the year. The great awakening that follows the long dreary months of winter. Growth and renewal are seen in all their promise and hope and it sends out a message that lifts the spirit and warms the heart. This sense of brighter and better days ahead acquires an even added resonance and meaning now in these times when scientific advances offer tantalising breaks in the clouds of pandemic.
“The band of bluebells in the foreground (of this image) present a markedly satisfying richness of hue that is accentuated by their being apparently in mild shadow and provide a lower frame for the overall scene making the sense of the new effusion of life all the more real and deeply-felt. The bluebells are a luxuriant floral carpet through which we may step gently in the readiness of imagination. The scene is suffused with a windless tranquillity and one can almost hear the glorious symphony of birdsong as the nesting season takes to the wing.
“Two tree trunks provide a compelling mutual counterbalance. To the right, the thin tall dark almost fragile beam presents a wavering outline but coiled round in a veritable spiral of freshly opened green leaves telling a powerful story of new life in all of its immensity shooting gloriously from even this most frail and seemingly timorous of trees of the forest.
Beside it, the other trunk rears up massively and monumentally insisting on respect and demanding our attention. It is ancient and venerable and yet now it sheds its weight of years and acquires the lightness and zest of new beginnings.
“Beyond the woodlands relatively faraway trees crowd and mass together like the dreamy masts of ships on surreal oceans, dissolving seamlessly into the profusion of green brightness with a joyful clarity of light from an unseen sky. Our eyes soar heavenward with them and rejoice in the youthfulness of nature restored for another year of life and the continuity of creation.
“And every year is so special and unique counted and recorded in the individual rings with which trees reckon the years that become the centuries of their existence spanning so many human lifetimes and entire generations. They are upright living time machines that gives us another and fascinating perspective on our reality.
“What I love most of all in this picture is how the light is seen passing over the already considerable depth of foliage that covers and already so early in the growing season has come to conceal the forest floor. The earth is alive and the earth is young in the great annual miracle of springtime which is so sensitively and delightfully conveyed in this wonderful picture with such depth of feeling and perfectly judged artistic accomplishment.
“The picture I describe was taken by the very talented Breeda Kiely Morgan of Frank Morgan Studios”, Mr Walsh concluded.