spring

1.

I enter the arboretum wondering what blooms will be out today.  There are a few clouds on this cool day, yet our warmest of spring .

I approach a family, the parents are in no rush to exit. The children are running and laughing under the bare branches. They stomp then wonder at their  footprints in the remnants of an early morning snow in the dappled light.

Pools of grief and joy
well in afternoon green buds
early spring snowmelt

2.

I pass two people.  Their voices mix with the chatting of squirrels and the chirping of birds.  One has a pair of binoculars hanging from their neck. We share a “Hello.”

After they pass by, I hear a sound.  Looking over, I see an empty tree branch waving.

Floating Lenten Rose
blooming in the garden bed
a passing spring cloud

3.

Close to the exit, I approach one of the pair I had passed earlier.

I blurt out, “Did you lose someone?”  They laugh and look back the way they came saying , “No, they went that way.”

Day after winter
February Daphne blooms
Its fragrance lingers