Change of Season

Our winter has been mild this year with even Seattle out-snowing Minneapolis during January and February. Add to that a seven day run of record warmth and spring is on the move. On last week's trek north to the cabin I spotted a pair of swans, either daring or foolish, standing in thawed wetlands. But as tulips continue to prematurely poke through the crusty earth all of us up here know not to count out old-man-winter just yet.  



Change of Seasons


In the distance a trio of cranes,
stolid metal works mired in March.

Their plumed counterparts
still wintering along the Gulf Coast.

Not for them bare-branched trees, mud
and melted snow, rather swaying grasses
and buds fat with blossoms.

But given this winter's warmth
they may hitch a ride on a tempting thermal,
land in frigid ponds still patchy with ice,
grow stiff as their fabricated namesakes.

Or maybe a "Closed for the Season" sign
scouted on the door of an ice cream store
dampens deliberations of an early journey
as they step around pilings supporting the pier.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor