A Baltimore Backyard

Rise and fall
Rise and fall
The crocus in my garden
Stubborn, hopeful, futile, desperate--
Well-matched
For the clinging chill

Stolid stalks linger tall
On either side
Waiting
Waiting
Soon I fear it will be too late
Some buds look full and limp
Stillborn daffodils,
Still furled in a fetal pose.

Burst of color
Morning and night
Purple and Orange and Yellow
Rising full and healthy
For moments
Falling delicate and wilted and spent
While new bursts
Explode fearlessly
Immediately
Out of the cracked ground
Half-thawed and littered
with fallen crocus.

Do the tulips cower at half-mast
There in the corner?
Thick hardy leaves
Charged and balked
Still waist deep in the dirt
Frightened by the revisiting winds
After spring's dangerous tease.