Winter seemed reluctant to release its hold.
Spring, pent up, anxious for winter to die
Urgent ever pressing, ever getting more bold,
Rends winter’s air with a pressing cry
“Babe’s in the womb anxious to unfold
Newness, birthing and growing, I do not lie
Plants in the dirt need release from your cold.
Bleak one, oh winter, you’ve grown too old.”
This poem is in response to the SpeakEasy challenge to write a piece starting with the words, “Winter seemed reluctant to release its hold” and including a reference to the above Leonardo da Vinci drawing. The challenge made me think about the strange weather which we have experienced in Austin, Texas this spring. First a late frost nipped my budding Amaryllis and then a hail storm last week sheared off the booms of those in flower. Fortunately only about 10% are early bloomers and the rest are now in their full glory. Today we are warned that another cold front is on its way but we are assured that it won’t get below 39o F.
<img src=”http://www.yeahwrite.me/speakeasy/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/speakeasy.png”>
jstansfeld 
Love this one, Jane!!
Thank you, dear friend, and I know that you speak what you really feel not what convention often suggests.
It is gorgeous right now lets enjoy our spring while it lasts.
Cheerio
Jane
Lovely! I especially like the last line. I know that feeling all too well.
Thank you. I agree and winter in Texas is short – I once lived much further north and then it seemingly dragged on for ever! Cheerio, Jane
I love rebirth imagery when tied with springtime, and you’ve done it very nicely here.
Agreed and thank you for your visit, Cheerio, Jane
So lovely, Jane! And so true. We’ve had glimpses of spring here, and I am so ready for winter to go away for good. Wonderful job with the prompts! 🙂
Living in Texas I shouldn’t begrudge what little winter we get but somehow I always do especially those final cold spell whacks. Cheerio, Jane
Well spoke and so true! I know back home on the east coast, my parents are eager for winter to give it up already! haha
Perhpas we all get tired of winter which is why the story of Persephone came into being. Right now we, in the northern hemisphere need her back! Thank you for your visit, Cheerio, Jane
Gorgeous Imagery Jane and hey if you don’t like that old man,send him here ,over to India-we are dying of heat-bleh! 😀
The trouble with winter in our part of the world is that it plays with us – one day lovely and warm and the next freezing or with hail. The plants and people just don’t know what to expect one day to the next! Thank you for your visit. I found India very beautiful despite the heat! Cheerio, Jane
Oh,unpredictable?Wonder if you visited India during Summer or winter?I hate Summers here-only season I love here is Winter 😀
Yes, we visited in early summer and it was very hot. Of course we were ‘tourists’ in air-conditioning which was lovely. Even now I can smell India and feel the torpor. I’m sure that you are right about the weather, we have similar issues here in central Texas where summer is equally hot but, mercifully for humans, not plants, also dry.
Cheerio,
Jane
oh,oh-so you did have a taste of it and from your comments and posts I think I remember you visited Mumbai which is really sweltering and humid,being near the sea -very similar to where i live in the East(Kolkata) -North(Delhi etc) are very hot and dry.
Gorgeous Imagery Jane and hey if you don’t like that old man,send him here ,over to India-we are dying of heart-bleh! 😀
You have created some rich imagery in this poem. I admire how you were able to employ rhyme without making this piece sound trite. I’m terrible at that. Nice work. Karen
Thank you Karen, it helps when the schema is ABAB and when the words are easy to rhyme like ‘hold’ and ‘die” , Cheerio, Jane
Oh, this is lovely. Reminds me of the lessons I had to recite in elementary school.
II trust that they were memorable and worth while? Thank you for your visit.
Cheerio, Jane
For some winter has grown too old this year! (Winter was mild for us, but summer is what wields its power in Arizona… not looking forward to that at all 🙂 ) I hope your blooms survive the coming cold front…
Same in Texas – mid summer is our worse season for out-of-doors activates. Some plants like the Oxalis just go dormant – they survive on two seasons of dormancy – winter and summer.
Cheerio, Jane
Desperately clinging to life – husbanding illusions while reality beckons, I reckon.
Peace,
Eric
The desperate cling to life always amazes, but then life itself, whether encapsulated within an enormous Amaryllis bulb, or in our dna growing in a womb is still a mystery. Something so amazingly complex that not even the most gifted endowed scientist can duplicate it.
Cheerio,
Jane
“Plants in the dirt need release from your cold.”
I love Spring, plants and flowers suddenly break forth to the accompaniment of bird songs. The whole world seems to express joy at release from imprisonment of winter.
I agree that it is a magical time, and one for which we are all impatient. We need Persephone to be released!
Cheerio, Jane
Hi Jane, This reminds me of a song I used to hear, when I listened to “Folk Music” on the radio, called “Old And In The Way”, about the inconvenient hanging-on to life by the elderly when youth wanted them to “get on with it”. So sad!
I hope you can save most of your beautiful amaryllis!
I am happy, and surprised, to report that, despite frosty set backs, the Amaryllises are as stunning as ever. This may be because they multiply every year and the bulbs grow bigger. When I last dug them up two years ago some were bigger than the very largest store bought onion. I only dig them up every few years but when I next do so I’ll have to take photographs.
Thank you for your visit,
Cheerio,
Jane
Shame about the amarylli – I had been hoping for another poem about them – your last one was one of my favourites.
Hi Wyon,
The Amarylli (is that really their plural or could it be Amaryllises?) are quite spectacular – I need to send you a photograph.
Love
Jane