I have bad ideas all the time. Some good ones. I have learned humility over the years – and keep learning it anew all the time. But today’s post is not about humility. Or good ideas. It’s about…

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A Lousy Idea

Saucer magnolias launch next spring’s buds –
green, fuzzy, and small –
while their own leaves yellow, and dry up, and fall.

This seems like a lousy idea to me.

Why not wait till Spring?
Like reasonable trees
who wait for the season of rabbits and bees

Doing the cha cha.

It’s only bad things that lie ahead –
November’s rains –
dark nights –
and dread.

Snow may be gentle and soft and dear,
but the ice that’s a lot more common here
will glaze them tight to the bony branch.

Are they filled with fear?

Each fall
I’ve seen the buds emerge.

I’ve seen them quiver
in Winter’s chill.

I’ve seen them blacken, and die, and drop
(though most years, I have to admit, they do not.)

Do this year’s buds,
so tiny and small,
have any knowledge
of last year’s Fall?

I heard them whispering
amongst themselves
today as I played with the dog and the elves:

“The winter is long,
And dark, and drear,
But we are strong,
And have nothing to fear.”

Those foolish buds.

They will bloom – or die –
they have plenty to fear.

What they said is a lie –
or the deepest truth.

Spring comes

with or without them.

 

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