[After Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hurrahing in Harvest]

Spring begins now; now, egregious in green, the stalks rise     
From their graves; around me, what tree-tricks! what clusters
Of catkins illumine the willows! has a wilder willful-waxing  
Of yellow dust buttered ever and brightened the skies?

I gaze, I breathe in, I wend
Though the ambient freshness of soil to seize the ephemera 
Of mayapple parasols, leaf-litter-sprung and unfurled,
And the bird-beaks of unopened tulips before their dear petals unbend.

Such fecundity, birthed from, made out of a body
Bountiful ever — red-lipped-fruitful Lakshmi! —
These things, these things still return despite shoddy
Defacings; so that, when springtime reaches its acme,
She will bloom, lotus-lush, in water translucent or cloudy
And run riot, rampaging in richness enough to distract me.

[Sharon Whitehill writes: I’m a retired English professor from West Michigan now living in Port Charlotte, Florida. In addition to poems in various literary magazines, my publications include two academic biographies, two memoirs, a full collection of poems, and three poetry chapbooks. My latest, This Sad And Tender Time (Kelsay Books), appeared in December 2023.]