Early April – Mountain Spring
Early April – Mountain Spring
We’re in that slip
of the year in which spring
looks briefly like fall
in the same way that a baby
looks like a little old man,
wizened and reddish at the tips (no matter
the ultimate leaf or skin)
as if illuminated by a light
that just catches edged reach.
The grass lies flat
in long stretches,
and it is hard to imagine,
walking its wilted sprawl,
all the growth going on;
harder to imagine how
if a season can seem like a baby
that is also an old man, we must seem
to that white light high in the sky just now–
the one that each of us is supposed
to see so close some day, come
what may.
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Here we go–number 14! For April, this 2015 National Poetry Month, posted for With Real Toads Tuesday Open Platform. (Sadly, I am in the City right now, so this pic is from last April!) k.
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Tags: #napowrimo, 14th day of National Poetry Month, Early April - Mountain Spring poem, little babies and little old men poem, manicddaily, Spring in its infancy poem, white light poem
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ManicDDaily 
April 14, 2015 at 7:24 pm
This is so profound!
Loved reading it 😀
xoxo
April 14, 2015 at 8:43 pm
I can see it and now I will look for the old man and the baby~
Clever, Karin and so wondrous~
April 14, 2015 at 8:53 pm
thanks so much, Ella. Hope all is well! k.
On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 9:44 PM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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April 14, 2015 at 9:03 pm
Just wonderful, both the description and the refection.
April 14, 2015 at 9:13 pm
I enjoyed reading this, k, and like you wanted, you have put me to thinking. Spring looks like it did last fall before the snow came, but not for long. Here in southeast Texas we have turned green, blue, yellow, pink, and Indian paint colors.
I wonder too, if that white light that looks down might be a little (or much) disappointed in us.
I had to put the lawyer in with the other doctors. Technically by degree we are doctors–and in the academic field we may be called such.. I retired as Dr. H….., aka Dr. Jim, or Professor Jim. But I didn’t require my students to use the Doctor title, though most did.
..
April 14, 2015 at 9:21 pm
I think it turns to spring far more quickly in Texas than in upstate New York! (Given that I went skiing just this Sunday!) (It was getting soggy though.) Thanks, k .
April 14, 2015 at 11:26 pm
I think your baby \ old man comparison is sweet (and accurate.)
April 15, 2015 at 12:19 am
really a gem, K ~
April 15, 2015 at 2:30 am
What a wonderful extended metaphor.. the baby like an old man and the spring like fall.. Maybe there’s a reason why April is the cruelest …
April 15, 2015 at 7:51 am
Babies can be like old men, and of course, old men can be like babies–;_) The metaphor is both disarming and accurate for that no-man’s-land between seasons. (Here there is also often a time in summer that mimics winter in its lifelessness, just with the extreme of heat instead of cold.) One wonders what this has to teach us, and what the light has to say about it–that the suspension we float in is really extremely consistent in its extremes, and only our wayward thoughts can mark its variations as something personal? Dunno, but I liked it. Hope Spring comes in full force for you soon–here, the iris are in bud(yes, very early–climate change?)
April 15, 2015 at 8:17 am
Hi, thanks, Hedge. Spring is fully here in the City, and starting upstate too. The park (Central) is just beautiful though, and very active in the evenings. I was walking through well after dark last night, which always makes me feel a little nervous, but there were throngs there. k.
On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 8:51 AM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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April 15, 2015 at 9:05 am
The comparison your draw in the opening stanza is so original – and immediately identifiable. There is a similarity felt at the time of equinox. Your conclusion brings us all full circle.
April 15, 2015 at 11:27 am
Excellent, yes! The snow recedes, not quite gone, it’s all brown and wizened… perfect comparison with that curmudgeonly infant. 🙂
April 15, 2015 at 2:26 pm
The Wheel most turn in order for live to continue moving forward… But the light ahead, the hope… don’t take away the sadness brought up by the things that must die in the turning. You’ve showed this here so well…
April 18, 2015 at 9:39 am
Oh, I think this is a marvelous comparison – brilliant, really
April 18, 2015 at 1:19 pm
Thanks, Debi. k.