The Latent Side of Spring
(or Scientific Jargon Put to Poetic Verse)
Hidden in the frozen soil,
'neath the land's white blanket;
Stored within the roots and shoots,
Hardened to a lower fiducial point;
Waiting under the icy Tyndall flowers,
where diffuse radiation cannot produce warmth;
Pretending to hibernate and to not compete,
with the haunting aeolian sounds of winter;
Courteous and tolerant of Earth's winter habits,
Content to be patient under nimbostratus skies;
Like the letter from a distant loved one,
with assurance that they'll soon arrive;
Disguised in the frozen rills and rivulets,
Ever mindful of the sun's elevation angle;
Anxious to make the soil friable again,
and wring dew from the saturated air;
The latent, quiet energy of spring,
can ambush our world without notice;
And though fleeting in nature,
dress February like April.
But, when finally the sun driven sensible heat,
catches up with the latent side of spring;
The tidal wave of energy cannot be held,
and the vernal, phenological clock begins to tick.
As when the flutists arise from the orchestra,
the dancing notes of spring spread over the land;
isophanes migrate from south to north,
and a new season takes root in the fertile pedons.
Mark Seeley
Professor and sometime poet
Springtime, When the Sun Climbs
Springtime is when the sun climbs,
and nature's sounds begin to rhyme.
A dripping roof. A gurgling brook.
The beat of a horse's hoof.
Birds singing. Bands playing.
St. Patrick's Day jigging.
Springtime is when the land is reborn.
Those with SAD are no longer forlorn.
Smiles more numerous. Office staff humorous.
Poets more voluminous.
Short sleeves displayed. Basketball parlayed.
Income taxes waylaid.
Springtime ushers in new hope.
Ambitious plans with which to cope.
Plants back on the sill. Weekends to fill.
Gardens to till.
Getting in shape. Put the dock in the lake.
Take the rugs out to shake.
Springtime brings celebrations.
Among them Motherhood salutations.
Passover days. Easter resurrection praise.
Arbor Day trees to raise.
Earth Day stewardship. Fishing Opener kinship.
Memorial Day worship.
Springtime is indeed when the sun climbs.
And so it should, as God divines.
Mark Seeley
Professor and sometime poet
mcwg@soils.umn.edu
URL:
http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/spring_poems.html
Last modified: March 20, 1998
