finally

a sudden, voluptuous arc of color -
lilacs, tulips, rununculas, each bulb awakening again,
the wind slowing down into a breeze,
something warm, fertile in the air
and everything smelling like the green
i remember, the soft, easy embrace of it,
not of airbrush nostalgia but
something finer, more real, alive with new detail.

everywhere i look, something is budding free of itself,
whatever cocooning shell kept it safe, away from the
ravages of an unkind winter, has loosed from its cozy retreat,
become visible again, brighter, braver, unshy at last,
and lifting my own head to see the spectacle of this unfurling,
feeling the air kissing my cheeks,
i realize i, too, am ready for my spring.