In spring the river goes out of its banks
and quietly spreads through the young grove,
among the thin trunks,
like the breath of the liberated earth.
The water washes away the traces of winter,
fills the roots of the trees
with the moist strength of new life.
So too in the soul of a human
sometimes its own spring comes —
when the waters of time
wash away the heavy banks of the past
and give the heart again
to grow and become green.