Mudiferous,
squelching ramble
beneath bare branches
and yearning buds
yields a vast harvest
in my wintry soul
of spring faith.
Squirrel
chases squirrel,
and mallards swim
interlocking figure eights.
Robins hop,
black eyes gleaming.
Trees believe.
Daffodils believe.
And I believe that
spring
has arrived and
the last flake has flown.
Green will soon entwine
in great forest archways.
Mother Earth is moist,
ready
and scented
with spring faith.
Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham
“Spring has returned. The Earth
is like a child that knows poems.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
Note: I found this quote at the Wobbly Dum-Dum Tree blog, and it spoke to my heart. Rainer Maria Rilke was an Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist born in 1875, that same year as my Step-Grandfather. The photo is from a woodland ramble I took this morning. It’s of skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), which doesn’t smell too bad as a baby. It’s rather pretty as so many babies are.
Happy National Poetry Month! And welcome to all Poetry Friday friends. Many thanks to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for hosting this week at the Poem Farm, now celebrating its sixth birthday. Amy is a many-times published poet and author of Forest Has A Song and Every Day Birds, both wonderful poetry picture books.
Fascinating words and beautifully written…
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Thanks!
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Nice post. Good writings.
I am well -coming all readers of this blog to check out my last tow poetry at http://untoldview.wordpress.com/ happy reading. Hope you all like it.
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Thanks!
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this is nice!
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Thanks!
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Beautifully written
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Thank you!
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Hey, I’ve started a new blog here and I came across this post and instantly fell in love with the richness of this poem. Do follow for upcoming posts!
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Thanks! I visited you. Great blog.
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Nature is speaking through your wonderful poetry. Beauty at its best.
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Thank you!
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‘If There Should Be Another,’ poem: https://merrittcorrigan.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/if-there-should-be-another/
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Love it 🙂
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Thanks!
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A great ways to use poetry, nice!
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Thank you!
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Reblogged this on The Popcorn Daily.
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Enjoyed this write. Spring is one of my fav seasons… of course Fall being #1. looking fwd to reading more of your works.
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Thanks! Love your site.
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This poem realle evokes the true spirit of Spring and is a lovely read.
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Thanks, Benjamin.
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Beautiful!
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Thanks, Janna!
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“I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone” Rainer Maria Rilke
Reflecting nature often and with intensity gets us closer to those secret things and to each other. Thanks for the touch of Spring–in word and picture.
<
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I learn more secret things, the older I get. I didn’t pay much attention when I was young. Thanks for your comment and visit. 🙂
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I love the feeling of those plants believing, streeeetttcchhiinngg towards sprriiiing!! 😀 What is the plant, it reminds me of an orchid I bought my mum when I was a teenager. Has it got a spiky ball on the inside? Snap!!! I posted the same quote on my Tumblr blog a week or two ago – we must be mind reading!! It’s a beautiful quote, I’d not heard of it until recently.
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What poet wouldn’t like that quote? 😀 That plant is a skunk cabbage, which is surprisingly charming up close.
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A skunk cabbage…great name!!! Thanks for the learning curve of the day! 😀
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LOL
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Mudiferous! What a great word! And I love those “yearning buds.” Beautiful poem, Brenda!
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Thank you! I’m still trying to get through all the PF posts. 6 to go! Whew! Some peoples’ blogs hate me, and I can never leave a comment.
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Hi, Brenda–there’s a lot of believing going on here already due to our Aprilish first half of March–tulips, the beginnings of dogwood and azalea, and every tree greening up. *veriditas!*
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We had snow, but it’s mostly melted off, and it hasn’t dented the spring greening.
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Spring walks do the same thing for me.
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I’m so glad I captured a common feeling.
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I believe, too, reading your lovely words! Thanks for sharing, Brenda, and Happy Poetry Month!
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It snowed today, LOL. So much for believing. It’ll be gone soon. 🙂 Happy Poetry Month to you, too!
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“Mudiferous,
squelching ramble”
You get the award for my favorite poetic opening this week, Brenda! Positively luscious.
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Yay! Thanks, Michelle. 🙂
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I recognized the skunk cabbage in the photo and wondered how that was going to play out in your poem!!
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Didn’t manage to work it into my poem by name, but since it likes the deep, dark mud, it was there in spirit and inspiration. 🙂
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I was amused about the rambling Brenda, seeking signs of Spring. 🙂 The skunk cabbage coming out, unfurling like the ferns do was a precious “newborn” plant. Good to know not so stinky, too. I enjoyed this romp, Brenda.
I posted a snowy April Fool’s Day post and heard 3 or 4 groans about snow coming on Sunday and one said it was a “nasty prank!” 😦 Made me sad. I can see here you, too, are in the frame of mind of~ “Snow be gone!” 😉
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I’m more in the mood of “Shoveling Be Gone!” 🙂
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The picture shows the poem so beautifully. I am so excited to have some warmth and growth happening here. Perhaps it will stay? I love the Rilke quote, and this: “interlocking figure eights.”-just the right image. Thanks for your spring welcome!
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Thanks, Linda. I was glad the words came. I had the picture and quote for two days and nothing. Then they flowed in the way words mysteriously do. I plan to catch up with all the PF posts tonight and tomorrow. Such fun.
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I’ve always loved that quote. What a lovely paean to the hope and beauty of the season. Happy Poetry Month!
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I wish I were organized enough to have a plan for celebrating National Poetry Month. I love that you collect them all in one spot. 🙂
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Start to stop, thank you for a tribute to poetry as well as to Spring. “Trees believe”–there’s something especially intriguing about that thought. God bless you. Thank you for another extraordinarily beautiful photo to accompany equally beautiful spirit-filled words. Happy Poetry Month!
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Thank you for your kind words and Happy Poetry Month to you, too!!
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“Trees believe.
Daffodils believe.
And I believe…”
What a lovely poem of hope. I believe too. It’s here. It’s here.
Happy National Poetry Month! xo
MUDIFEROUS!
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Yeah! Snow is forecast, but I’m sure it’s an April Fool’s joke from the universe. 🙂 Thanks for hosting and stopping by! XOXO
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A wonderful way to start my day.
Thank you.
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Thanks for dropping by, Hook!
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I love the promise in your words…I’m hoping spring is coming…I also like the word mudiferous-so descriptive.
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Thank you!
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Yeah….very nice.
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Thanks! 😀
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
HEY—THAT IS SKUNK CABBAGE!!! DID YOU KNOW THAT SKUNK CABBAGE IS EDIBLE EARLY IN ITS GROWING SEASON? 😀
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What on earth would you do with it?
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I feel it as you write it! The sign of a great poet.
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What a nice thing to say. Thanks, Claudia!
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Love it. E
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Thanks, Elizabeth!!
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Perfect and timely – love that Spring is in the air through your words.
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Thanks, Mary!
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Brenda, like a breath of fresh, spring air…your poem made everything better. ❤ The wee seed, tucked inside the pod is so very sweet.
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I never thought skunk cabbage could be so pretty. 😉 Thanks, Gigi.
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mudiferous! i love this, really sets the tone for spring. also love the quote at the end )
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Thanks, Beth!
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Lovely!! 🌸🌸🙋🏼🦄🌸🌸
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Thanks for the flowers!
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Your welcome! 😊😊
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Just lovely.
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Thanks!
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I believe Spring is here too. How nice!
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More certainly in Texas. 🙂
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A beautiful write, Brenda.
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Thank you!
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Sorry I meant Brenda, Branda.
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LOL I’ve heard worse.
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Wonderful Branda. I can smell the fresh spring air! And Rilke rocks her socks off, always~
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He was a wonderful poet. I think he wrote in German originally. I looked him up.
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