Monday, March 5, 2007

Winter, Please Be Gone

Monday, March 5, 2007
6 comments

I am ready, more so than in any other year,
for Winter to depart our midst.
Spring may tease us,
green fingers grazing fingers, toes
with her fickle sense of timing.
But Winter sits, solemn and heavy,
unmoving upon the land
even as days lengthen,
leafless trees hold hints of buds swelling
while blackbird flocks trace Etch-a-sketch lines across ash-gray skies,
and robins course over still-sleeping meadows,
yet refuse to sing.

Winter, if I ask nicely, will you please leave?
My bones ache for the massage of sunlight.
If you'll depart, in your wake I'll seek
from the woodland seep, the chorus of peepers
like a warming hand upon my cheek.

Windblown bluestem stalks in tiny stacks
where meadow voles and sparrow flocks
sheltered from your frozen kiss
and woodcock stopped to leave its chalk
sweet smell of Spring earth still persists

Yet Spring won't show until you split
and we can't stand another month of slush
the crocus and daffodil are waiting
patient for the cold's abating.

Winter you, too, must be weary
Do your joints ache from your own chill?
does your icy wind make your eyes teary?
so why then do you linger still?

Dear Winter, if I have to beg
you've been here since November's feast
well now it's time to shake a leg
Winter, please be gone, you beast.

6 comments:

On March 5, 2007 at 12:17 PM Rondeau Ric said...

We had our first meadow lark of the season on Sunday. A first for the yard as well.
No peeents yet.

Time passes slowly for those who qualify for AARP

On March 5, 2007 at 2:00 PM John said...

Nice poem, Bill. I have to say, though, that three months hence I will be longing for winter to return.

On March 5, 2007 at 10:48 PM Corey Finger said...

-20 wind chill predicted for Albany tonight, so, yeah, what you said (and I ditto john on the "Nice poem").

On March 6, 2007 at 7:51 PM Brian Kliewer said...

I couldn't agree more with this. Winter, please be gone.

About a month or so ago I started doing some Belted Galloway paintings,complete with green pastures and all, and posting them on my blog as a way of beating the cold. Here it is March 6 and we are experiencing the coldest cold of this entire winter here in Maine. Perhaps I should do some more winter scenes?

Nice poem, but I am ready for its realization as well. And, no, I don't qualify for AARP. I just feel like I do.

On March 7, 2007 at 11:59 AM Anonymous said...

Hello, there!
My name is Rosanna I know your are a bird lover, and I need some tips about feeding the backyard bird. Actually I am in a city of Texas, and I live in an apartment instead of a house. I wanted to feed the birds, but all that came to eat are house sparrows except one pair of Northern Cardinals. I just learned house sparrows are considered “bad” by people, in this sense, I should not feed them, but I still want to feed the cardinals. What should I do? I am using a bag of “wild bird seeds mix”, but both the cardinals and the sparrows eat them. I wonder in your knowledge, is there anything that cardinals like to eat while detested by the sparrows? Is that possible? Am I wrong if in order to feed the Cardinal I also feed a bunch of sparrows? I am so puzzled now.
I will be very appreciative of your reply! Thank you! My e-mail is rosanna_2003@hotmail.com.

On March 12, 2007 at 11:11 AM Bill of the Birds said...

Rosanna:
I've sent you an answer via you e-mail address.

All: More signs of spring of later (today is 3/12) but there's still a chill in the air.


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