Today I Tasted Spring

Today I cleared away the weeds and leaf debris
and found a thousand shiny green daffodil leaves,
a dozen stalks of hyacinth and crowds of blooming crocus.

Today I pulled away the Cosmos
sprawling like a woody veil across the sandstone,
held fallen seedpods in my palms like constellations,
found the baby larkspur, painted daisies, and the flax, the tulip
bulbs I planted in the fall, the hollyhocks, the poppies and the sage.
I found the maltese cross, the anise hyssop, salvia and peonies and wild phlox.

Today I scooped the compost, our year-long store of food scraps alchemized,
a moist black soil. The only remnants of our past twelve months of mealtimes
were the egg shell fragments, calcium diamond sparkles in the compost
like a sacred garnish, and I dished it up into the bed of bulbs and dusted off the sandstone.

Today I tasted spring and cleared the pathways
so I can walk among the fragrance and the flowers
while everything is blooming toward the future

--Diana Tigerlily