April is the doorway to sprin

The poet T.S. Eliot perplexed many of us when he wrote:

“April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain,

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers”

But I have other reasons to believe that April is a welcome month, blending our lives into the harmonious chords of music such as “April in Paris,” which I believe made France one of the tourist capitals of the world.

Here are some of the beautiful lyrics as performed by Ella Fitzgerald, who I met, after I became a Californian. “I never knew the charm of spring

Never met it face to face

I never knew my heart could sing

Never missed a warm embrace

Till April in Paris

Whom can I run to?

What have you done to my heart?

Yes, April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom Holiday tables under the trees

April in Paris, this is a feeling

No one can ever reprise”

Even when I was a young boy, I yearned to visit Paris