Spring

[val]

(a frivolous fragment prompted by the season)
Spring is gradual greening;
silvered with snowdrops,
gilded with daffodils,
woods wading deep in bluebells.
Warm air scented with almond
from the foaming hawthorn.

Spring is singing;
Blackbird fluting,
Robin’s cadence,
wild bursting Wren song,
wistful Willow-warbler’s plaint.
Dusk’s slow fall silences all
save the nightingale,
with liquid notes sent from on high
to stir immortal longings.

[Brett]

Hi Val,

I'm not usually a fan of nature poems (that's not to say I don't appreciate nature) but I quietly enjoyed this piece. The first stanza more than the second - you handle alliteration and consonance beautifully there. I did think that there were a few too many Ws in that part of the second stanza, but any mention of warbling wrens instantly gets me giggling (blame WC Fields) so that may well be me.

'the foaming hawthorn' is a lovely image - foaming is very well chosen I think.

Cheers

Brett

[Deborahhambrook]

Bursting with springtime, and very enjoyable. Made me feel happy!

Deb x

[Sue]

And why not, as Barry Norman probably never said. I think any poet worth his (or her) salt has been moved by spring to make some kind of verbal response, even if it's only "Bloody weeds!"

Like Brett I enjoyed the first stanza more than the second. Are your robins singing? I have to say our local ones only sing noticeably in winter.

I'd consider a stanza break between the willow-warbler's plaint and dusk silencing all.

Liked the nod to Shakespeare and Keats at the end. (reminds me of the tale Spike Millligan told of the sergeant major announcing a talk by the company commander about Keats: "And I don't suppose any of youse higgerunt bastids knows what a keat is.")

[dollynoodle]

Hi Val,

The imagery of spring was painted with delicate descriptions reflecting the gentle beauty of nature. My favorite lines were:

woods wading deep in bluebells

wistful Willow-warbler’s plaint
Dusk’s slow fall silences all

I really enjoyed this.

[patterjack]

Very English, and thus a bit out of my ken, except via the work of the Romantics. We do not have that kind of Spring in Oz. I am not making an odious comparison, nor even an odorous one
Enjoyed the effort

[Angry Idealist]

Maybe this is how Keats would have read if he'd laid off the laudanum and not been such a miserable bugger.

Nice vibrant rhythms here, pretty imagery... altogether very seasonal.