Give Now  »

Noon Edition

Unseasonable Thoughts

The following poem by J. Barrie Shepherd's poem will resonate with all of you flower lovers. As a poet and a seasoned gardner, he writes about his unseasonable thoughts in winter of eagerly awaiting gardening season. Enjoy:



Unseasonable



Close to an hour more of light

Since December's solstice stood

The calendar on edge, balancing

My dwindling days between the here

And the hereafter.

This late January thaw

Has turned thoughts to Spring again,

Those Holland-ordered bulbs I bedded

Late into November already showing

Green above the grey and crusted soil.

You'd think, with seventy winters now

Beneath my crust, that I'd know better,

Learn to stay hunkered warm against those drifts

That still must slump against the garage door.

Yet an old, insistent summoning,

Wiser than winter's experts,

Sends me back to seed catalogs,

Makes me check trowel, fork and leaf mold,

Bends my head to bloom and blossom yet unseen

But lending never-ending fragrance

To every lifeless, frigid scene.



Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From

About Focus on Flowers