Spring will be here soon, which means I’m running out of time to share some beautiful winter images.

Believe me, I’m not trying to delay spring’s arrival — it was 12 degrees when I got up this morning! But images of snow and the moon go so well with this poem that I just had to share this before March 20 gets here.

Besides, I love the poem, with its claim that you can find “love letters” from nature all over the place. Right now, in our wounded world, we can use all the love we can get.

So let’s get outside, open the mail, read those letters, and share the love with all who need it, taking in whatever we need to sustain ourselves…

P.S. Ikkyū, 1394–1481, was an iconoclastic Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet who helped infuse Zen attitudes and ideals into Japanese art and literature.

“Love Letters”
By Ikkyu

Every day, priests minutely examine the Law
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by the wind
and rain, the snow and moon.