Luscious Awakening

Snow and ice, reluctant to loose
their frigid grip on the garden, yet
the renaissant spring sun and kinder
temperatures do their work, and
slowly the soil is revealed. Behold,
thrust assertively through the snow,
red-green shoots of early spring
bulbs, ebulliently welcoming the
inevitably burgeoning season.

Even those small winged creatures
a nuisance in warm seasons
have begun to stir, creeping out
from their winter havens, warming
themselves in the micro-atmosphere
created by the sun in our back garden.

Our little dogs, from within the house,
somehow manage to interpret another
season where the sun warms their
hairy hides, seeping into their winter-
weary bodies. They stand stolidly,
expectantly at the glass doors, determined
to make their needful way outdoors.

A concentrated inspection of the garden
reveals red emergences on the black
and dark green rods of old roses. The
Bergenia are bright dark green and robust.
Flower-preparatory buds on tree peonies,
rhododendrons, azaleas and saucer
magnolias are anxious to swell into
brightly fragrant profusion.

Grape hyacinths reveal waiting foliage
to jump-start their purple, delicate
dangling clusters of insouciance. Lilies
are no laggards, thrusting shoots from
the released, moist soil. We will soon
be bedazzled by the splendour of our
gardens alive with luscious awakening.