Country Life: Spring Rhythm-Richard Brookhiser tunes in

SPRING begins with flowers. That is what Swinburne wrote. “And frosts are slain and flowers begotten, / And in green underwood and cover / Blossom by blossom the spring begins.” Pre-spring begins with sound.

The essential, coldest, and most threatening mark of winter is silence. Urban bustle masks it, but at night in the country it is revealed. No leaves stir; they have fallen. No streams gargle; they have frozen. No insects creak; they have died. If wind blows, it moves the tree branches with the crazed power of a force in interstellar space. You might hear a limb crack. A far-off dog is as alone and exposed as your thoughts.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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SPRING begins with flowers. That is what Swinburne wrote. “And frosts are slain and flowers begotten, / And in green underwood and cover / Blossom by blossom the spring begins.” Pre-spring begins with sound.

The essential, coldest, and most threatening mark of winter is silence. Urban bustle masks it, but at night in the country it is revealed. No leaves stir; they have fallen. No streams gargle; they have frozen. No insects creak; they have died. If wind blows, it moves the tree branches with the crazed power of a force in interstellar space. You might hear a limb crack. A far-off dog is as alone and exposed as your thoughts.