The weather in March is unpredictable, at least here in the northeast. This week we had record warmth, followed by wet snow. And wind, blustery wind. The lawn wore a silvery blanket of frost this morning. I watched it evaporating inch by inch as the sun rose higher and higher. But there are signs that spring is on the way.
The First Signs of Spring
The gardens are strewn
with autumn’s leftover leaves
and windblown bits of trash—
a strip of window screen,
a scrap of Christmas wrap.
But the hellebores are waking,
roused by a few days of warmth.
Daffodils are pushing up, up, up.
They’ll soon join the crocuses
to bring spring,
all yellow and purple and green,
to the garden.
Draft, 2022 Rose Cappelli
Syvia and Janet have this week’s poetry roundup at Poetry for Children. There you’ll find a sneek peek of their new anthology that just came out, Things We Eat. Congratulations Syvia, Janet and all the poets!
Imagine the Possibilities 
Your poem perfectly illustrates the ‘revealing’ way winter gives way to spring, Rose. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading, Bridget!
LikeLike
Rose, thank you for sharing your poem with a topic that is on everyone’s mind. Soring is inching its way closer. I would love for autumn’s leftover leaves to stop leaving its calling card by my front door.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just beautiful. We all need spring!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love this poem, Rose. My daffodils are up, up, up and showing their enclosed buds. The forsythia also. It will come soon. But yes, this last wind in NJ tore a flashing loose, it banged around all night!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love “a scrap of Christmas wrap” (which makes magic of that bit of trash!).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll echo Irene’s comment about that “scrap of Christmas wrap”—a beautiful image AND internal rhyme! Your whole poem is packed with sound: so much alliteration, assonance, consonance. Great job, Rose!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh, I adore the internal rhyme and bits of alliteration in this! Really lovely, Rose!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I love this! Yesterday it was in the 60s here and today I’m watching a bit of a blizzard and a few inches of snow stack up. I can totally relate. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love both the image and the language in this poem. With “up, up, up” we feel the energy of the daffodils, slowly and steadily pushing past the remains of winter. Every year I count the progress of spring by the succession of blooming plants and your poem captures that perfectly. Thanks for sharing it with us today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your uplifting and spring-growing full of goodness poem Rose! My helleborus are up but not blooming yet, crocus stems are out but no buds, other perennials are poking through the earth but seem to be taking their time… Hope to see more emerging soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I planted my first helleborus last summer and I’m THRILLED that it has a bloom! Except for the fact that the temps are down in the teens! My bloom is under a box until the warmth comes back. Fingers crossed for all the other bulbs that were poking up green from the mulch in the beds! Your poem describes this in between season perfectly!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A friend introduced me to hellebores last spring and it was love at first sight. They are beautiful!
LikeLike
I had to look up “hellebores”. I guess we don’t have those flowers around here. Your poem is refreshing. Our temps went to freezing last night. Crazy weather, even in the deep south.
LikeLiked by 1 person