Summer Will Come True

April 2023

C.S. Lewis on Springtime, Cynicism, and Hope

Last April, I got to spend a long Easter weekend exploring the city of Oxford, England. On Good Friday, I spent several hours walking the grounds of Magdalen College, of which C.S. Lewis was a Fellow for nearly 30 years.

In particular, I had come to explore Addison’s Walk, a beautiful footpath around an island in the River Cherwell and the place where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Hugo Dyson had a conversation about Christianity as a “true myth” or a “myth become fact”—a conversation that was instrumental in Lewis’s conversion.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day for such a walk. Flowers were in full bloom at every turn, including the striking and beautiful snake’s-head fritillary, which is endangered but grows abundantly in Addison’s Walk. After a long, dreary English winter, the loveliness of the sunshine, the flowers, and the river lifted my heart.

Snake’s-head fritillary

I rounded a corner, and there on a sunny wall was a plaque bearing a poem by C.S. Lewis.

What the Bird Said Early in the Year

I heard in Addison's Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year nor want of rain destroy the peas.

This year time's nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn one year older by the well-worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart.
Quick, quick, quick, quick!—the gates are drawn apart.

It’s a beautiful poem, made all the more beautiful to me by the fact that I encountered it for the first time in Addison’s Walk on a fresh spring day with the promise of summer filling the air along with the birdsong. I felt as if I was standing inside Lewis’s poem while I read it—a remarkable experience. It made it easy to believe that summer would indeed come true.

Of course, all last April’s flowers withered and died; the “promised moments” of summer passed; Autumn came; and here I am, one year older.

But it’s April again, and the birds are once again singing “this year, this year.” The color green is greener than ever, the air is fresh and warm, flowers are blooming everywhere I look, and tree swallows are swooping with iridescent blue on their wings.

We are “often deceived”—yes, and often disappointed and discouraged, too. But the challenge of springtime is to not give in to cynicism and instead to “open once again your heart.”

Addison’s Walk, April 2022

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A Walk in the Woods in April:

• The birds are back, and they are busy—and noisy! I’ve been using Merlin, an app created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to identify their songs, and I am hearing birds in a way I never have before.

• April flowers (of which there are many!) include several kinds of trillium, pink lady’s slipper, and wild azaleas.

Trillium cuneatum, also known as Little Sweet Betsy. (Or perhaps a very similar species, of which there are many!)

Pink Lady’s Slipper

Flame Azalea

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What have you seen in the past few weeks that has helped you to believe that this year the summer will come true? I would really love to know. Also, if you have a favorite spring poem or quotation, please consider sharing that as well!