I just needed to post something in honor of this day, but didn't feel like sitting down to write something myself :-) If you're reading I hope you enjoy and smile for a minute.

Kipling:

Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight, Or he would call it a sin;

But we have been out in the woods all night, A-conjuring Summer in!

And Lerner and Lowe:

It's May! It's May! The lusty month of May!...

Those dreary vows that ev'ryone takes, Ev'ryone breaks.

Ev'ryone makes divine mistakes!

The lusty month of May

Encyclopædia Britannica articles, from the full Encyclopædia Britannica database

May Day

in medieval and modern Europe, holiday (May 1) for the celebration of the return of spring. The observance probably originated in ancient agricultural rituals, and the Greeks and Romans held such festivals. Although later practices varied widely, the celebrations came to include the gathering of wildflowers and green branches, the weaving of floral garlands, the crowning of a May king and queen, and the setting up of a decorated May tree, or Maypole, around which people danced. Such rites originally may have been intended to ensure fertility for crops and, by extension, for livestock and humans, but in most cases this significance was gradually lost, so that the practices survived largely as popular festivities. Among the many superstitions associated with May Day was the belief that washing the face with dew on the morning of May 1 would beautify the skin. Because the Puritans of New England considered the celebrations of May Day to be licentious and pagan, they forbade its observance, and the holiday never became an important part of American culture.

LISTEN

I remember being a raven and soaring through the skies; the black knife edge of my wing cutting into the blue of the sky as I looked to either side. Beneath me was a small white home with a steep jagged hill in the back. Cars were parked along the side of the house in a unpaved driveway. I could feel the woman inside the house,as yet unaware of the incredible change she was about to experience.I called down to the woman "Change! Change is in the wind, but do not be afraid!" And all she heard was "change". The fear of change so overwhelmed her that she stopped listening. She thought I'd refused to tell her more, but I think she is beginning to understand. I remember being a lizard playing on a patio of many colored tiles, feeling the sun warming my body as I basked on a rock. One day as I frolicked and danced with my friends on the patio, I could feel the woman inside the house in great emotional turmoil. I called out to her "Change is good. Do not be afraid!" That first word made her so afraid she stopped listening and didn't hear the rest. She thought I was holding out, trying to make her crazy, but I think she is beginning to understand.

I remember being a squirrel climbing the tree outside a small white house. The tree had the tastiest walnuts and was such a fun height for playing. Next to it was a pear tree and when the boy from down the block wasn't stealing the pears, I helped myself. No one seemed to mind, although sometimes the woman in the house pretended to be confused. She always looked up when she heard me singing on the top of the railroad tie fence. That's why that day I felt her cry out I called back to her "Change! Look to it! You'll come out on the other side in spring with supplies left over from winter!" The word "change" made her so afraid she turned away from me and didn't hear the rest. She accused me of teasing her, but I think she's beginning to understand.

I remember being the moon, full and bright. I was shining over the land and from a small cleft in a hill, next to a small white house, was a woman who greeted me often. She would stand in the midst of my light and drink me in as if she could hold all of me inside her Self. One day while the sun was still out and I had begun my rise, I saw her upturned face seeking out answers. I called down to her "Change! Hold me close for I love you and change is my way!" The word "change" scared her so much that she closed herself off to me and wouldn't accept my love, but I think she's beginning to understand. I remember being a woman struggling to commit to a path I had mistaken for my destiny. Ravens flew overhead, the squirrels climbed my trees, lizards played on my patio and I drank in the moon as if I'd never be full. And one day in the midst of my struggle I heard the word "Change!" ring out through the air. It seemed to come from everywhere at once and there was nothing more than that single word. I felt so afraid and alone...and I didn't know why I couldn't hear any more than that one word....but I think now I am beginning to understand.