National Poetry Month: "Harbinger" by Celeste Parsons

 

HARBINGER

You do not see it coming,

But one day, it is there—

A hint of fragrance on the breeze,

A softness in the air.

Tree limbs are frosted now with green,

 And on the ground below

Lie bluets in a colored drift

Where yesterday was snow.

And though the air is chill, the young

Run bare-legged in denial.

 And grownups smile, who yesterday

Could not be made to smile. 

© Celeste Parsons 1993 and 1997

Celeste Parsons lives in a log house built on a former dairy farm with her husband Jim, her Westie dog, Spook, and a revolving population of deer, turkeys, chipmunks, hummingbirds, and other wildlife. She has written poems, plays, technical documentation, and newspaper articles since childhood, is the editor of Nelsonville from A to Z, and the author of award-winning children's literature Wait Until I Grow Up!