“ Outside, a birch tree bends from the weight of the snow. it'll spring back up once the snow melts, back to its normal, upright self. could that happen to me ?”

“I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree~And climb black branches up a snow-white trunkToward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,But dipped its top and set me down again.That would be good both going and coming back.One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”

“...I hear the sounds of melting snow outside my window every night and with the first faint scent of spring, I remember life exists...”

“Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.”

“When snow melts, what does it become?'It becomes water, of course'Wrong! It becomes spring!”

“Outside a sparrow was swaying back and forth on the branch of a birch tree. A tiny drop fell away from beneath his tail. Ruffling its feather triumphantly, it soared off toward a destination unknown.”