Pear trees are blooming,
sending soft plumes of delicate odor into the air.
Soft husks of magnolia,
lavender and white,
drop, twirling, tumbling,
catching on spikes of grass in their passing,
mosaics beneath the trees.

Tiny leaves in shades between lemon and lime
yield to the time of their sprouting
beside the dark buds of maple
while redbuds splurge spring’s warm urgings,
along the hills and beneath the bluffs.

Hyacinth, daffodil and tulip
measure the cost of frost’s light nippings
while lilies erupt in dense clusters
of thick green blades.

Cottonwood, elm and willow
cast forth their own flourishing,
nourishing the eruption of this season,
so longed for in the deep ache
of winter’s hard freeze and long darkness.

This earth embraces its change
like sinners saved by a single name
and rising from cleansing waters,
full of shame and hope,
sensing promise and purpose
in their release from all other freedoms.

H. Arnett
4/12/10