Spring is bursting out everywhere and it is glorious . . . but it somehow seems at odds with the ways many of us are feeling in this coronavirus pandemic.

Only spring isn’t at odds with anything. It is what it is . . . as is the coronavirus.

The current moment reminds me of a spring a few years back. I have a lot of Facebook friends who are people I went to high school with. Some of them I remember very well, some not so well.

There was one guy, though, who I hadn’t known all that well back then, but became interested in reading about on Facebook.

When we’d been in high school, he’d lived just up the street from me, maybe a quarter a while away, but he’d been a couple of years younger than me, and I just hadn’t know him very well.

On Facebook, though, I saw that he was an artist, a painter—perhaps he’d been one all his life, I didn’t really know—but his paintings intrigued me. I felt I could see something inside him when I looked at them, and the something I could see inside him seemed a lot like a something I could see inside me.

I felt a connection, that’s for sure.

And then he passed away. Apparently, he’d been in poor health for a while, maybe for a long time. He must have been in his mid- to late-fifties.

It tore me up inside. I really grieved. . . . And I didn’t even know who he was, not really—just knew what he could paint.

It was May. The azaleas were in full bloom all over Shizuoka City–far, far away from the United States of America, and I wanted to cry, and I think I did cry, actually—a little, anyway, and I picked up my ukulele, started strumming Em and Dm . . . and wrote this song. I’m not sure why I changed the “he” to “she,” but I did.

My best friend . . . she passed away

All the while . . . the azaleas stayed ablaze

Unlike me . . . they stood unfazed

Oh, those colors . . . how they did amaze

Then I . . . could see . . . all . . . that she meant to me

Yes, I . . . could see . . . all . . . that she meant to me

You can watch the YouTube music video here.

(from Persimmon Dreams: When you’ve got a spare moment, check out our music/nature videos on our “Persimmon Dreams” YouTube channel, or Steve’s books, When a Sissy Climbs a Mountain in May and Along the Same Street, available on Amazon, or directly from us. And if you enjoyed this post, consider sharing with others. Thank you!)