Sestina: Reluctant Spring Poem by Richard St. Clair

When days of winter rain return to snow
And midwinter thaw reverts to ice,
Retreating into sleep I dream of warm
And sunny times when music fills the air
With tunes of J. S. Bach, and flowers bloom
In scores of different colors, scents, and shapes.

Despite the grand abundance of these shapes,
They don’t equal the varieties of snow
Flakes floating in the sky, which seem to bloom
Like winter flowers: microscopic ice
In crystal form, falling through the air,
Compacting into drifts only the warm-

ing sun can melt. So let return that warm
Enchanting spring whose lilting weather shapes
Our moods as does the elder Bach’s sweet “Air
Upon the G-String, “ and we forget the snow
As if it never happened: How sweet the ice
Cream on our tongues, the scent of every bloom,

Especially the lilacs from whose bloom
Exudes a fragrance that begins to warm
Our hearts with every breath we take; no ice
Remains upon the ground; the natural shapes
Of people, disencumbered of their snow
Apparel, flesh exposed to softened air,

And song birds from the south come through the air -
The cardinal, whose bright coat seems a-bloom
Like crocuses which pushed up through the snow
Just weeks before. But just before the warm-
ing days have come to stay, their lovely shapes
Once more are covered with a coat of ice.

The treacherous month of April with its ice
Storms waiting to betray the fresh spring air
Wreaks its havoc on the budding shapes
Of flowers, birds, and man: too soon they bloom
As if not ready for the tempting warm
Days which we thought had at last dispelled the snow.

The air of early spring, its fleeting warm
Sun rays in which bloom myriad sights and shapes -
When will it finally melt the snow and ice?