Ode to Spring

Spring Cycle

a closet of old clothes
collecting dust
dormant from daylight
hanging alone for
six months
the standard of old
stuff of memories
staying or leaving
lipstick colors
fill out of each
hollow shell
half gone
from the ground up
to the wild cherry
pale pink
burnt sienna
winter frost
thawing from the hilltop,
where the river run wet
while the daylight
linger a little
longer calling out
names of birds
to stay awake til
birth emerges
from roots of
ole sunflower
ole daffodil
ole lilies of the valley
come forth
come freely
come as a blanket
from piles of
mosquito bitten clothes
discarded away
come March
come April
coming on
from the spring
cleaning
of yesterday.

~Paula Mak