Island Light: Of Lilac and Lavender
Karyn Caliri leads her horse to fresh spring grass at Sweetened Water Farm.
Karyn Caliri leads her horse to fresh spring grass at Sweetened Water Farm.
Who is it waiting for? Lonesome chair sits in the surf under lilac skies at Katama.
Who is it waiting for? Lonesome chair sits in the surf under lilac skies at Katama.
Buster Giordano readies his iconic pizza place for the coming season.
Buster Giordano readies his iconic pizza place for the coming season.
Pretty tulips, all in a row, brighten a gray day in Ocean Park.
Pretty tulips, all in a row, brighten a gray day in Ocean Park.
Alfie Araujo takes Sunday stroll with pal Oreo in Oak Bluffs.
Alfie Araujo takes Sunday stroll with pal Oreo in Oak Bluffs.
East Chop beachcomber, hunting for sea glass, pauses to contemplate colors of sunset.
East Chop beachcomber, hunting for sea glass, pauses to contemplate colors of sunset.
Seasonal guests, willets, play along the shore of Sengekontacket.
Seasonal guests, willets, play along the shore of Sengekontacket.
Lobsterville moorings still dot the beach in Aquinnah.
Lobsterville moorings still dot the beach in Aquinnah.
Sunset at the Chilmark boat landing, casts a warm glow all around.
Sunset at the Chilmark boat landing, casts a warm glow all around.
Sun dissapears behind Elizabeth Islands over West Chop pier.
Sun dissapears behind Elizabeth Islands over West Chop pier.
The poet Amy Lowell loved to write about the gardens of spring and the flowering of this season that is our prelude to the clatter and clamor of summer. But Lowell somehow missed the point when she wrote her fondly remembered poem Lilacs. That was in the spring of 1922 and this is what she wrote:
"Heart-leaves of lilac all over New England/Roots of lilac under all the soil of New England/Lilac in me because I am New England." She was wrong, of course. Too close to Boston, too distant from the Vineyard. Now in full bloom of pale lavender, deep purple and white, lilacs belong first of all to springtime on the Vineyard and only then to the rest of New England. And while we do not wish to disparage other coastal areas, nothing matches the sight and scent of Island lilacs for either importance or beauty.