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Sunday, March 31, 2013

Counting up, counting down.



About this time of the year
days become
slippery
misty with anticipation 
spring returning like a new uncle
moving back home
someone nobody really can be sure of
couldn't be guaranteed
what exact dimensions
or disposition would make him arrive. He had
promised to come
when the right detail
the right colors
the right mood
was achieved
though nothing we did changed anything
since his coming was dependent on secrets carried in the winds
and a calendar chiseled in a marbled land.

When he finally shows up 
and easily accommodated
in our daily routines
each new food will taste grand 
so tired
we all are
of indoor games
and canned beans
and nights spent captured 
under heavy blankets.

When uncle leaves
and aunt and cousins take his place
we'll hardly notice 
busy jumping off lake ramps
into cool water
to shed the heat
that 
has
become
unbearable.

We'll grow tired
of long swims and long days
just when 
the cousins will be collected
to return to their homes 
needing new clothes 
and backpacks.

We'll all be eagerly waiting for
school to open, for the time  
when
in
 single
file
we 
line
up
to
enter
another
grade
 and greet our old friends.



16 comments:

#1Nana said...

Lovely...even as an adult I hate it when it is time to return to school. Those school bells ringing signal the start of the long dark part of the year. I love spring and the promise of long days and warm nights. Happy Easter!

Brian Miller said...

smiles...brought back memories of many a summer...the days were endless and school seemed to be here so fast...but it was good to see friends again...people in and out of our lives...

Kerry said...

Lovely. There is less of an edge to the changing of seasons since I retired from teaching last summer. I must be extra observant now.

Soumyendu said...

"And the leaves that are green,
turned to brown!"

Please keep writing!

Abby (Diligent Joy) said...

This is beautiful.

I can never decide which season is my favorite, spring or fall. They both seem to come just in time, providing relief from the more severe seasons.

the walking man said...

Wonderful piece Rosaria, but I would the cousins stay well past time to line up single file and march back to the beat of a drum of books and PC's and grades.

Helga said...

Here in L.A. colors and flowers are blooming year-round, time can't be measured by seasons. At times, I really long for the anticipation I knew as a child, growing up in colder climates, when I used to stretch out on still brown grass to sniff and detect the slightest fragrance of arriving Spring, to find the first Spring-proclaiming snow bell in melting snow.

yaya said...

After a long, cold winter like the this last one, I always think I'll not complain about the summer heat..until it's 90 and 100% humidity! I love fall, but I usually step into it hesitantly knowing what's coming behind it! Love your poem..it says it all!

troutbirder said...

Those were the days my friend....

LindyLouMac said...

I often find a visit to your blog posts soothing and this one was lovely Rosaria. Thanks for your recent kind words of wisdom on my own blog, which are so much appreciated.

NitWit1 said...

Love this transitional seasonal post. My favorite season has always been fall as I loved school and learning plus I have fall birthday.

But it spring in my area has proved fickle. Mon.-Wed. cold and wet, but to day expected to be 67 deg and sunny followed by 4 days of cloud and rain but temps in 70s. That's more like it!

ellen abbott said...

the wheel turns and just as we welcome the new season we are just as happy to have the old one done with.

Maggie May said...

I have always thought of Spring as feminine...... bursting with new life.
I did love the way you portrayed this post though.

We have been freezing over here but today it is sunny though rain is forecast for next week. We have to enjoy what we can when we can and I have enjoyed today!
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Amanda Summer said...

it's true, rosaria. the seasons are old and familiar relatives, filing into and out of our lives with a comfortable regularity.

i love the way you mold and capture experience in such unexpected and delightful ways - your words always reveal treasures.

ds said...

Ah, so true. But I welcome this "uncle" with more joy than the cousins, sometimes...

erin said...

this causes me to miss extended family. sadly it seems to have died a long slow death in my lifetime.

xo
erin