When Early March Seems Middle May

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Do you have daffodils at your house? We have boatloads of them. They popped up through the soil pretty early in January, but the buds have remained shut up tight until this week, when we were dazzled by sunny yellow faces everywhere. I hope those of you in frostier places are thawing out and seeing signs of spring like we are here in Charlotte. Here’s a poem for spring for you by James Whitcomb Riley. He lived and died in Indiana, so he understood the beauty of spring after a long, cold winter. –Kelly

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When Early March Seems Middle May

 by James Whitcomb Riley

When country roads begin to thaw
In mottled spots of damp and dust,
And fences by the margin draw
Along the frosty crust
Their graphic silhouettes, I say,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When morning-time is bright with sun
And keen with wind, and both confuse
The dancing, glancing eyes of one
With tears that ooze and ooze
And nose-tips weep as well as they,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When suddenly some shadow-bird
Goes wavering beneath the gaze,
And through the hedge the moan is heard
Of kine that fain would graze
In grasses new, I smile and say,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When knotted horse-tails are untied,
And teamsters whistle here and there,
And clumsy mitts are laid aside,
And choppers’ hands are bare,
And chips are thick where children play,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When through the twigs the farmer tramps,
And troughs are chunked beneath the trees,
And fragrant hints of s’gar-camps
Astray in every breeze,
And early March seems middle-May,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When coughs are changed to laughs, and when
Our frowns melt into smiles of glee,
And all our blood thaws out again
In streams of ecstasy,
And poets wreak their roundelay,
The Spring is coming round this way.

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Kelly Keller

Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, writing, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. They live in Charlotte, North Carolina, with their five kids, who are in various stages of leaving the nest.

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