Spring’s Siren Song
It is late afternoon and it is Spring by the calendar although still quite cool. And I have just spent the late afternoon listening to music. Some have likened it to the sound to bells. Others to bird song. And still others with unimaginable disdain, to “some kind of nature noise.” For me it is one of the happiest of sounds. The act of creation transformed into sound decibels for all to hear. A sound that comes from the earth and resounds to the heavens, unwittingly praising the Almighty. I hate to leave, and wish I lived even closer to the pond, so that the sound would surround me totally, filling my ears every evening with the sound of perhaps the single-most highlight of spring for me. The siren song of the Spring Peepers.
How have they cast their spell over so many? I cannot say except that their song is uplifting and filled with hope despite the natural perils they face daily. For, as true of all of us, they may die at any moment– say as a meal for a nearby perching crow or underneath murky waters eaten by a snapping turtle. They call for a mate without ceasing, without fear, single-mindedly, without a thought for their own safety. It is nature at its most elemental, in its most singular scope. They all sing out vying to be heard– so many voices. In some spots, I am told, their song is deafening. How nice to be there; I cannot get enough of their sweet music. It moves me to tears– these tiny creatures singing out their heart’s desire.
As I return home to family “situations” and domestic duties, I yearn for the simplicity of their song. Their total fervor. For if they sing then all is right in that small part of the world. Progress has not paved over their pond. Disdainful humans have not drained a “vernal pool.” David Carroll writes about vernal pools in one of his books on turtles called The Swampwalker’s Journal. As the title suggests, Carroll walks such places in search of turtles and other amphibians. He defines a vernal pool as a pool of water that fills up in Fall and Winter, swells in the Spring and often dries up by end of Summer. But a vernal pool is utmost a place of magic, not only a place where turtles lurk but where mating frogs deposit gelatinous eggs which turn into tadpoles first, and there, later become frogs. And after a requisite series of warm days, followed by spring rains, on the first dark night, vernal pools become the site of the “salamander night.” Salamanders leave their hibernacula to go for a night of endless mating and then return to leaf litter in the woods to disappear for the rest of the year. Some people who know nothing of vernal pools and their function deem them a nuisance, a “big puddle” to be filled in or drained. Some people know little of Spring Peepers except that they are “noisy,” “like some sort of insect.” Poor insects being made out to be the pesky lowest of the low. The natural symphony of hormonal, harmonic sounds sometimes falls on deaf ears.
And when, after finishing my evening chores, I try to read, I find the haunting sound of the Spring Peepers deep within my psyche, making me restless and anxious and wishing to be at that pond, surrounded on all sides by their sex song, inebriated by the unbridled joy in the air, immersed in the utter power of nature manifesting in one of her gentler forms. In the song of the Spring Peepers nature celebrates life-to-be rather than taking lives away. For most of all the song of the Spring Peepers is a song of tremendous faith, faith in love and faith that love will propagate and new life will emerge untouched by the oft destructive hand of man.
MOONSIDE 
Beauty falls on the eyes and ears of the receptive. Not being connected to nature, is to be disconnected from the world.
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April 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Yes, unfortunately being a hermit in New York City I am not as connected to nature as I would like to be. That part of my life is over. I find it hidden in scenes from my window.
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April 5, 2025 at 9:17 AM
I think there are a lot of people needing a greater connection to nature, but they don’t have it for various reasons. There are also people who seem to be unaware of the benefits that nature can bring them.
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April 5, 2025 at 10:16 AM
We had a wonderful time in our lives with our little barn upstate. Now life is different. We are lucky to be near a park although that is “citified” nature. How is it where you are?
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April 5, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I have just sent you a couple of pics. from my window, and some blog links.
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April 5, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Oh, thank you, Ronnie! Will look straight away.
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April 5, 2025 at 11:04 AM
There’s no greater symphony than the one performed by Nature. And birds are definitely the best sopranos of all. Resonating 100% with your words, dear Ellen. Wonderful post! I appreciated the profundity and mysticality of it. Thanks for sharing your natural sounds experience, my friend. Infinite light, love, and blessings to you 🙏✨ Have a peaceful weekend 🌈🌻💖
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April 5, 2025 at 11:16 AM
So glad this resonated with you, Susana!! Peace and grace to you!! 🥰🙏🏽💫
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April 5, 2025 at 12:07 PM
This is absolutely gorgeous writing and sentiment. I will carry it with me this evening and into tomorrow as inspiration, when pick up the paintbrush I have been so neglecting. 🙌
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April 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Dear Julie, thank you SO much! It is old writing. I don’t think I have it in me anymore. I am so glad it will inspire you to paint because I look forward to a painting and lovely literary piece from you❣️
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April 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM
It’s timeless Ellen, so it doesn’t matter when you wrote it. I thought of your Spring Peepers today to help me get back into the painting groove again. 😄
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April 6, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Thank you, Julie! Looking forward to your next post!
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April 6, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I can almost hear the beauty of the song you describe with such deep, emotive words. And the joy you get from listening is tangible. Thank you for this beautiful picture and words that almost do it justice.
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April 5, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Wish you could hear it, Dayle. Thanks for your words!
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April 5, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Wonderful to be so enveloped in the sensuality of sounds of Spring.
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April 6, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Thanks, Cheyenne!
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April 6, 2025 at 9:21 PM
So beautifully written, Ellen! The spring peepers, with their melody in Spring, no other human musical instrument can recreate – as you say, “with their tremendous faith, faith in love, and faith that love will propagate, and new life will emerge”. Glorious and magical. Indeed springtime is a wondrous time.
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April 7, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Thank you so much, Dee!! Yes, Spring time is magical and so are the Spring Peepers!
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April 7, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Oh how lovely Ellen – especially “Spring Peeper”! Silly question, but is that photo’s coral-red real??? Linda xx
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April 10, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Yes, it is. Thank you, Linda xx
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April 10, 2025 at 11:06 PM
🌻🥰
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April 11, 2025 at 3:51 AM
How beautiful. I love the colors!
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April 18, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Your writing is a light in a dark world—thank you for sharing your heart. Which posts did you feel most led to write by the Spirit? I’d love to read more!
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May 7, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Thank you so very much!! All my writing is inspired by Spirit in nature. Just check out the nature posts. Appreciate your comment so much!
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May 7, 2025 at 8:37 PM
God bless you!
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May 7, 2025 at 8:48 PM
I love your writing style
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May 29, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Thank you very much! I admired yours, too.
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May 29, 2025 at 2:10 PM