It’s the first day of the legislative session.

There is peace and love at the Capitol.

Lions are lying down with lambs.

Choirs are not singing Kum By Yah but the spirit will waft through the halls.

Bipartisanship will be expressed.

The legislative chambers are lands of hope and glory.

Only later will some plowshares be beaten back into swords.

Only later will passions rise.

Only later will voices be raised, not in song, but in argument.

The lid goes on pressure cooker today and the heat will begin to rise soon. But today we savor a one-day era of good feeling.

By mid-May this day is likely to be long gone and forgotten.

But on the first day, there is always hope that adults are in the rooms and that lions can, indeed, lie down with lambs.

It will be sunny and warm and the grass will be green and the trees will be displaying new life when the remnants of the lions and lambs go home in mid-May.

The Missourinet and our fellow members of the Capitol press corps will tell you day-by-day of the disappearance of plowshares.

Some of what we cover will be gratifying to some. Some of what we cover will be repugnant to others.

But remember this:

Whatever happens is the result of what Missouri voters and non-voters set in motion in November. If you recall, the events leading up to those decisions hardly resembled peace and love and lions being friendly with lambs.

So let us savor the one day of warmth and fuzziness that comes to the Capitol each year.

It’s the first day of the legislative session.