Reluctant Spring

Spring retreats. Plants stutter, deterred and broken by frigid gales that froth and rime the sea. Mangy deer in tufted coats clip infant green to bare earth. Rain pummels, flattens. Ragged clouds sweep the sky flat, obscure the light, impound the warmth. A world too mean to enter. Icy damp soaks bulky layers as I remove winter’s rubble: twigs, pine needles, branches, dried leaves, plants killed by the late hard frost or shredded by the wind.

Life persists. Dogged spring struggles on.

Author photo.