Now I Know That It Is Spring

This was supposed to automatically post this past Sunday, but I discovered it did not. I offer it to you now, with apologies for lateness

MrW

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What to write, what to write. This past week it’s been nothing but scholarship application essays. Luckily, most of the requests have been for short ones, and some of them I’ve been able to re-use. Still, my thinkbox hurts a bit.

That’s right. This insane guy has decided to (finally) complete his education. I’m looking at starting Summer Term at Salt Lake Community College.  I can’t wait until June.

But this is April, which is, among other things National Poetry Month. I don’t consider myself a poet, but have tried my hand at verse in various writing workshops. My most recent attempt can be read in a recent Mister Write blog.

But since spring seemed to be making a comeback in the recent past, then did an abrupt three-sixty, I want to share a poem I wrote several years ago under similar meteorological circumstances. I was subletting a room from a Kuwaiti man, in a house right across from University of Utah. I think it may even have been April. It had been cold and snowy most of the day, then the sun suddenly appeared and I went out to sit on our porch to enjoy the coming of warmer weather. This poem originally appeared  sine cera IV : There Is a Shorter View, published June 2005 by SLCC Community Writing Center.

NOW I KNOW THAT IT IS SPRING
by John P. Wilkes
Now I know that it is spring;
I feel the life the raindrops bring.
The winter chill has lost its power
Against the beauty of the flowers
That will bloom ‘round every lawn.
That frigid wind, that blowing snow
Succumb so that the grass may grow.
Soon trees will shade me with their leaves
I’ll drink iced tea; no longer grieve
The loves, the life, the time I lost
While waiting for the crisp, white frost
To acquiesce. But that’s the cost
One pays for tasting summer fruits;
Those tender, green, sweet, juicy shoots
Which spring provided with the rain.
The seeds I sow which turn to grain
Must spread more seed, then flower and die.
Yet I will always wonder why
A world so wise, so strong and clever
cannot make springtime last forever.

© John P. (J Phillip) Wilkes

Then, as now, was a time of change in my life. Spring is great for that. Especially after the long, dark winter. It is most difficult to fight the depression and anxiety with which I have struggled for years.

The best way is for me to write. it’s more therapeutic than any pill I've ever taken.

That’s why I put effort into bringing my blogs to you. Perhaps I can help you beat the blues once in a while. Nothing helps me more.

I hope you enjoyed the poetry.

until next week...

MrW