Think Out Loud - Spring

Spring seems to have finally arrived in the U.S. East Coast. This after a winter that most people have complained was both long and harsh.

Curiously, at the start of this winter, right after Christmas, I wrote the following:

It Almost Feels Like Winter

It almost feels like winter
The wind howling 'round
The temps rising up to 30
With flurries coming down.

It almost looks like winter
The sun's rays are so weak
Bare trees cast odd shadows
As the clouds passing by do sneak.

It almost feels like winter
You need your gloves and hat
The weatherman speaks of wind chill
Maybe nudge the thermostat.

It almost feels like winter
But in my mind's eye
It holds no candle to the memory
Of winters long gone by.

So little snow, no sledding
Or igloos, forts, snowballs
Perhaps it's all idealized
A figment of mental thralls.

Regardless of its factuality
I miss it all the same
I love the snow in wintertime
Without, it all seems too tame.

But, I agree with "most people" that it ended up to be a comparatively long, harsh winter. In March, desperate to be positive, I wrote this:

Almost Spring

The clouds can’t decide

Thin, fair-weather cirrus,

Low, scudding gray nimbus,

Towering puffs of cumulus,

Following one after the other.

The air can’t decide

Frost one clear sunny morning,

Warm fog the next;

Icy wind one evening,

Calm, almost balmy, the next.

The sun can’t decide

Bright and comfortable

Or thin and distant,

Obscured by overcast

Or burning the overcast away.

But the animals have decided.

The birds twitter merrily,

The squirrels chirp and scold.

Tabby cat begs to go out.

Spring is coming; almost here.

I love the transition, relish the change. I was happy to have winter and am happy to see it go. Here's to spring, to change, and the ever hopeful possibilities they bring.

(both of the above have recently been published in my collection Moments, available on Smashwords.com for all of April for 99 cents.