Ode to Spring

spring is here

cherry blossom petals like snow

suffocating flowers delight my brain

intoxicating

I like to sit in my garden, on a bench of peeling white paint

no sounds but my weight shifting every so often and leaves whispering

a welcome, an ode to spring

pollen unkind

but vital to life,

washed away by rainfall

only to reaccumulate immediately

pavement absorbs the sun

grass is cool on my bare feet, the back of my neck, the palms of my hands

my scalp prickles with sweat, soothed by a passing breeze

I forget how much space green takes up:

leaves of trees, foliage,

all filling in the gaps of winter,

skeletons of birch and pine

time for gardening and salads and wine,

a toast to spring:

to cerulean sky and yellow days,

bare soles and bucket hats,

walking for the sake of walking;

to birth and growth

people come out from hiding;

they have braved the cold but embrace the warm,

sprawling on the ground

spring: a time of metaphors,

of new beginnings–

clichés that validate themselves annually

time to emerge from the cold and dark

time to bloom and bear

time to rise above Earth’s crust and breathe deeply

inhalations reverberating in my hollow insides,

yearning to fill the void of my hibernation

I sit in the sun

it pushes me forward, motivating

I think of all the vitamin D I must be getting

spring is here

• college
• flowers
• grass
• green
• poem
• poetry
• spring
• Trees
• UVA
• warm