It's May

A montage of glimpses that helped inspire today's poem...

a poem that ended up being an all-day-long doggerel

as lines were snagged between a rather dizzying dash of to-do-ness

Treetop’s translucent flickers wink; its first fanned flame is brief

Soon every bit of blue-sky chink will be filled in with leaf...

At dusk frayed half-leaf shadows sprawl beneath a pastel sky...

And everywhere we look green ambience haloes the land

Unraveled in skein after skein from the Creator’s hand...

Time’s wheel of seasons spins; it’s the beginning of Sweet May

The Belle of Blossoms wins; Old Man Winter is tucked away

Contagious rapture seizes outstretched arms of heart and soul

Hope trembles on warm breezes like a celestial drum roll

Below the hill the winding brook meanders between reeds

It curls its gurgling lay through nooks where the blue heron feeds

And everywhere we look green ambience haloes the land

Unraveled in skein after skein from the Creator’s hand

Treetop’s translucent flickers wink; its first fanned flame is brief

Soon every bit of blue-sky chink will be filled in with leaf

Soon every wooden wick will brim with hymns of nature’s praise

Kindling the giddy glance and glim of glorious summer days

Forget-me-nots dazzle the dell with periwinkle whiff

Regal tulip-chalice compels us to draw near and sniff

To peer deep into petal-souls and be completely awed

At each iconic detail extolling the eye of God

The slope is strewn with sunbeams; yellow dappled luxury

I wonder, was the dandelion post-Eden or pre?

The robin entertains, with earnest tug-for-dinner fight

The grosbeaks and orioles return, to Birdwatcher’s delight

Time’s wheel of seasons spins. It’s May, and the glad gardener cheers

The perky pansy grins, the bleeding heart bursts into tears

The fallow furrow beckons and the chipping sparrow trills

The brooding bloom plot reconciles and smiles in daffodils

The worry-wart forgets to fret, as beauty tames the Beast

As joy, once set before us sets a sumptuous splendor-feast

And worship overflows, in hearts susceptible to bliss

Of blush-blue-green-gold works of art, as earth yields to spring’s kiss

May turns our spirits younger in a bare foot happy-dance

May satisfies the hunger for a soil-and-soul romance

May grants a glimpse of Heaven in earth’s air of welcome hugs

Past garden-woes forgiven; (yes, even potato bugs)

May is a lithesome minstrel, piping luring melodies

May sprinkles blossom tinsel like confetti beneath trees

May makes us feel like royalty in palaces of dirt

And we become more carefree, in spite of life’s shares of hurt

May makes us very merry, imbibed with draughts of fresh air

May wears apple and cherry orchards like boughs/bows in Her hair

May unfolds frilly parasols that money cannot buy

At dusk frayed half-leaf shadows sprawl beneath a pastel sky

The farmer whistles, faith-refueled between fall and spring

Em’rald frond glistens, rain-bejeweled, bees buzz and birds sing

It’s May. Mourning doves bicker in soft-flick’ring filigree

*The frisky calf kicks up its heels, quicker than you or me

© Janet Martin

*the last line is inspired by a calf-chase I engaged in last week,

and a heads up from another neighbor this morning,

to be on the lookout for a frisky, brown calf that out ran its owners!