Coy Spring

Spring has so many faces --
from the benevolent facade of
bright sunny days and the
mission of rescuing the landscape
from winter's waning grip
to clear the ice and snow in
release of soil from its frigid
prison, to that of sneering fury
with biting wind curtsying in
tandem with defiant cold returning
the atmosphere to chuckling winter's
care. One might reasonably feel
that in complete fairness to
changing seasonal guard
the privilege be taken more
seriously than to reduce expectation
to misery, taunting, teasing,
flaunting the power of energetic
malice with a succession of storms
before finally relenting to admit
the entry of a kindly atmospheric
warmth, the heat of resurgent sun,
the cleansing gentleness of rain
the welcome return of songbirds.