Our essential differences from the norm are both huge and deeply offensive to those among us who wish to be quietly integrated into society without particular reference to our nature.

Meaning: Unpleasant early weather is linked with a pleasing later display of flowers. The sequence can express hope that present conditions help prepare a later benefit.

Meaning: The saying treats April and May as decisive months for what the rest of the year will yield. Keys picture their conditions as opening or closing later possibilities.

Meaning: April’s wind is pictured as a horn announcing favourable conditions for hay and corn. The saying links an early-season sign with a hoped-for later yield.

Meaning: A few unpleasant April days are imagined as borrowed from March. The months are personified to describe weather that seems out of place in the new season.