After the Winter

(Irises by Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch
Post-Impressionist painter)

“In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet, from his poem Locksley Hall

AFTER THE WINTER

Some day, when trees have shed their leaves
And against the morning’s white
The shivering birds beneath the eaves
Have sheltered for the night,
We’ll turn our faces southward, love,
Toward the summer isle
Where bamboos spire the shafted grove
And wide-mouthed orchids smile.

And we will seek the quiet hill
Where towers the cotton tree,
And leaps the laughing crystal rill,
And works the droning bee.
And we will build a cottage there
Beside an open glade,
With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near,
And ferns that never fade.

~ Claude McKay (1889-1948), American poet and novelist, active in the Harlem Renaissance