Tuesday, January 25, 2011

hibernal : prevernal :: now : soon

25

Listen: already you can hear the first hoes

working: the human rhythm again

in the taut stillness of the hard

pre-vernal earth. What’s fast approaching

seems not stale to you. What has come to you

so often seems coming now

as something new. Always poised for it,

you never seized it. It seized you.

In the light of dusk even the leaves

of wintered oaks appear a future brown.

Sometimes the winds exchange a sign.

The shrubs are black. But heaps of dung

lie scattered in the fields, a richer black.

Each passing hour grows younger.

-Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Edward Snow

7 comments:

the Knottie Knitta said...

iy's ok, spoony...i have pre-spring fever, too :)

the Knottie Knitta said...

iy's means it's lol

Vetsy said...

I like the black and white photos of the sleeping plants waiting for springs arrival, I'm waiting too.

I also like the poem. Thank you for stopping by today. I think it's really great that you live not far from a rose garden, that must be fun and a beautiful sight.

Goneferalinidaho said...

I just told a coworker today that I'll be ready for spring when it gets here.

Emily said...

spoony--i wonder if our feverish crafting could have something to do with spring fever. like we're cooped up and restless so there's nothing to do but create.

vetsy--thank you! these photos are from early last spring...it's still pretty dead around here, unfortunately.

goneferal--i'm ready and a half...just barely able to contain my excitement when the sun sets later every day.

camillap said...

Pre-vernal. I like that. Thank you Emily.

Emily said...

thanks camilla!