Waiting expectantly

The odd day of lovely sunshine, then back to the cold and damp of recent weeks! How halting spring's arrival can sometimes be. It certainly was twenty-seven years ago as I awaited my son's birth; we were anxious that his arrival might be as accelerated as the early spring of that year, with consequent difficulties. Fortunately, in the event, those were minimal.

Southmead Hospital, 1987

A mild month fools the shoots,

precipitates premature birthing of buds and blossom,

too-soon deliveries from that dark winter warmth

that incubates nature's new arrivals;

late frosts may sever

the tenuous hold of fragile flowers

unwisely crowning in deceptive sun.

Swaddled safe against such fickle weather,

delay your debut until spring has truly come.

(copyright Gill Garrett 2014)