Spring Infusion
It always happens when our eyes have grown accustomed
to the estranged light and the gray despair of the ground.
After the snow has gone, the breeze turns lofty and free,
the sun is a little stronger, and the first green eruption appears.
Birds announce the spreading contagion,
and the world turns inside out, unconstrained
after dull and dingy February.
The whole world ignites overnight it seems,
blossoms burst forth in all their glory
to tell a story of life renewed.
Suddenly we want to touch everything in sight
to see if its real or just the pure delight of imagination—
the blades of grass, the budding trees.
We even reach for the sky, which is now a rare shade
of blue magnified by our startled eyes.
Like Spring’s harbinger, the robin, our song bursts forth
from our winter brooding, “Rejoice, rejoice!”
We are like children again, wanting to climb the highest tree
to get a better take on this magic,
We run and leap with abandon, for Hope has returned,
the yearning inside fulfilled.
Spring only comes to those who have suffered the blight of winter.
Hope reignites our inner fires, inviting all to participate
in the unveiling that comes from the heart
flooding all the passageways of the body
like the arteries in the earth which have been subdued for so long,
but are now infused with the delight of a Spring Song.
The Thief That Steals the Night
Here it comes again, the season of the superfluous,
arms not wide enough or too constrained
to carry the armloads of glorious Spring branches.
Ambushed along winding Island Pond Road in Derry, NH
by the eruption of blooms bursting forth
into scented sprays of lilacs,
I meet the thief that steals the long winter night
illumined in the meadow, on fields,
front and backyards making up
for the barrenness of winter,
the debris left scattered
after the snows have melted.
It’s only when I arrange sprays of lilacs on my bay window
cut from bushes with abandon beauty
and watch the sharp relief,
the peeping sun ripples through the diamond facets
of the old cut glass vase turning lilacs into tinted hues
that repair the winter damage,
shattering the cold world into a bright testimony of Spring.
The burden of snow finally lifted,
the gradations between rich and poor shifted,
even the foundation of despair
with the profusion of florets everywhere.
Our slate finally clean, sins repented,
even the churches and synagogues
opening windows and doors
promising parishioners even more,
greater shows in store
when Heaven opens its Door.
Astronomical note: The March equinox (1st day of Spring) happens at the same moment across the world but is converted to local time. In 2015, it falls on March 20 at 6:45 P.M. EDT, 5:45 P.M. CDT, 4:45 P.M. MDT, and 3:45 P.M. PDT, for example.
Since I live in the Eastern Time Zone, I am time stamping it exactly @ 6:45 pm on March 20th to coincide with Mother Nature.
Winter has a last shout on the first day of spring!!! Thank you for preparing us for better days.
thanks for including the poems, they are heart felt because I lived through every one of the events,
and will never forget what pains I took to ensure our bay window would be filled with the mesmerizing
lilacs and smells that wiped away the winter doldrums creating a inspirational mood.
I always love posting your poetry! ellensue