“Oh, Spring is surely coming. Her couriers fill the air; Each morn are new arrivals, Each night her ways prepare, I scent her fragrant garment, her foot is on the stair. "To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” ~ John Burroughs “If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.” ~ Audra Foveo “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” ~ Margaret Atwood
Capricious And Green
heavily laden with moisture,
waltzes in a capricious March
shepherds gales, sunshowers, and hail
— mercurial temperatures
by now March has the attention
of April, May, June, and any
Jane Doe and Joe Blow by the score
fed up with frosty bleak weather
as toes and ears long kept hidden,
shiver at the sight of mares’ tails
and *sap mackerel scales in groves
that tell tales of imminent storms
but March’s still wet behind the ears
on when to roll out her bounty
teases as she waits for her cue:
crocuses cascade from mountains
with the kaleidoscope of hues
she knows she best get serious
and set the year’s show in motion
don’t care how Winter opposes
© selma
Poem repurposed as Spanish Quintain
Spanish Quintain: The Spanish quintain (also known as the Quintilla) is a type of five-line poetry that is eight syllables in length, each line written in iambic tetrameter.
I’m not entirely sure my poem is written in iambic tetrameter, but that was the aim.
Give me the word, if you know, please– and thanks for reading.
*sap— as an adjective, *sap is the color between blue and yellow in the spectrum, in other words, green.
Two fun facts:
- The daffodil is the floral emblem of March.
- In Ukrainian, the month is called березень/berezenʹ, meaning birch tree.
Happy month of springtide miracles and peace.
May everyone see the colors of hope that spring brings.
- Homage to Dante: What Ails Thee, Trifler? - December 13, 2024
- Do The Southerlies Come For The Wicked Too? - December 12, 2024
- Dectina Refrain: Tinged Living Lessons - December 11, 2024
I love the Ukrainian name for March. It reminds me that birch trees have a unique sap that can be boiled down like maple sap. However, birch sap starts to flow after the maple trees have endured the freeze thaw cycle of early spring.
Nature knows what it’s doing, doesn’t it, Jasper. And she’s always on time. You liked the name, and so do I, the translation, Thanks for dropping by read and comment. I appreciate you. Blessing you. Happy Vernal Equinox/Spring.
I’m trying to find the English translation of the other 11 month of the year.
I wonder if there’s a connection between the month named in connection with nature and the predominance of Eastern Orthodox religion. In the eastern Orthodox tradition nature is studied by observing it as it lives and thrives, while in the Roman Catholic Europe and the west, nature tends to be studied by killing it, capturing it and studying it with a microscope, reducing things to the sum of its parts. Just a thought.
Hey Jasper. Sorry I cannot help you about the other eleven months. Good luck on that, dear friend. Bless you.
I did find a nature explanation for each month of the year but not an equivalent English word. April is Flower. May is Grass.
Hello Selma! Thankyou for these lovely verses and colours of nature.
The colors are certainly a certainty of Spring. Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring, dear Sonia. I bless you. xoxo
Selma, you filled March with colourful vibrancy! I don’t think being capricious is bad. Xoxo
March is doing what only March does best. And we best believe this. Thanks for commenting, dear Punam. Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring.
Absolutely! Always a pleasure, dear Selma. Happy vernal equinox and spring to you too. Xoxo
Wonderful, Selma! Thanks for sharing 💕🙂
My pleasure, entirely, dear Harmony. Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring 2023. We’ve arrived. xoxo
💖🤗💖
A gorgeous collection of spring-inspired lines! Lovely. 💐
Pleased you thought it so, dear Michele Lee. I bless you. Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring… here we go. xoxo
Thank you, Selma, for your beautiful poetry and your thoughtful words here. 🙏🏻💗
I love the grape hyacinths in the snow! A perfect illustration for your lovely poem, Selma! Our temperatures have fluctuated more than usual this March. We are wearing out the thermostat! 🙂
Wearing out the thermostat– I know just what you mean. And our bodies internal thermostats too. Layer up, dear Cheryl. No fun being sick in springtime. Blessing you. Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring 2023. Hope all is well with you and your better half. Stay sweet.
March definitely keeps us on our toes! (K)
March is one fine lady. Precocious and naive at the same time. We love her because we know someone just like her… Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring, K. And blessings and flowers.
It’s dark out and I just came home from wandering through the large landscape section of our towns’ franchise home /garden store. It took four trips to get all the perennials and shade plants out of my car. I could still be there and be quite content….how apropos for this to be the first post from WordPress I opened!
aww, how sweet of you to brighten my afternoon with comment that this is the first one you opened. Thanks, Nurse Susan. (is the title missing letters? Hope not) Thanks so much for reading and giving me a glimpse into your shopping day. Here, it’s raining and chilly. But we’ll get there. Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring, Susan. And blessing.
What a beautiful poem with such lovely imagery. I’m quite ready for the rain to stop and for the sunshine to shine again.
Thanks, Bridgette. Ready we are. Happy Vernal Equinox and Spring 2023 to you and all you love. I appreciate the read and comment. xoxo
Lovely collection of spring. I love these poem. So beautiful & lovable words write in the poem. Thanks,
Thanks, Raj. Glad you liked. Blessings.
A beautiful poem Selma.
Thanks, Sadje. Yay, Spring!
A tribute to spring. Indeedy. Happy springing into Spring 👏
You’re most welcome
A beautiful tribute to March! ❤️
You have captured the nature of the month perfectly, Selma!
😊 👏 thanks dearly.
A gorgeous poem, Selma – full of lovely Spring thoughts. I loved the lines, ‘crocuses cascade from mountains
with the kaleidoscope of hues,’ as I can visualise all those beautiful crocuses blooming down the slopes of the mountains. I love seeing the first crocus in my garden – a sure sign that winter is on its way out. Xx 💖
Lovely collection of spring. I love these poem. So beautiful & lovable words write in the poem. Thanks,
Beautiful poem Selma!!! March is marching in like a wild child, our weather is all over the place.
Usually is, right. But March gets us closer to lovely weather. We love March wild as she is. Xoxo
She is a wild one and yes we love her crazy self 😊😁
Thank you for these lovely verses and colorful nature.