In Homage to Spring
admin April 29th, 2007
Today, I open.
Today is a spring day
Full of Iris and lily, lilac and jasmine,
Today is a day of warm sun
And cool breezes.
Today I feel the pulsating movement of people,
They zoom by - top down, roar, heat and wind,
And just the right amount of danger, or
Walking slowly, bathe in the day’s caress.
They lounge and nap, or eat and talk.
Parents and children trade kicks at a rubber ball,
Dogs search the trees for squirrels, and
Chirping birds chatter their latest gossip.
No longer are we walking dead of winter.
No longer curled and knotted, we stretch, we sigh,
We indulge and celebrate, we squeeze out the drops.
In the front garden, some early blooms have withered,
And some about to burst open.
Later will be the lavender and the gardenia,
Later will be the heat lovers, portents of true summer,
But the purple rose, I have been watching her.
It is past time for the roses.
The others already an immodest orgy of blooms,
She waits. I have snipped them back,
And buried my face in their blooms of red and yellow,
But she waits. I think
She was waiting for this day, this first true spring day.
The others carrying still, some remembrance of last season.
I too have been waiting.
Not ready to fully stretch, to groan, to scratch, to commit,
To indulge in this overindulgent feast, but
Today, I smelled the sweet fragrance of her first blossom,
Almost black, it was, and the scent to match,
Like a secret rendezvous with a beautiful stranger.
Today, among the rhythm of people,
Bathed in scent and light green leaves,
Among the bird calls and the trees’ rusting,
I wait no longer. I open my bloom, I emerge
Like her, I have waited, but I must live this day.
This day of rebirth, all the earth opens.
I open also, this day.