Shadows
Spring comes in smells,
a rough chill on the skin,
sunlight with new intensity
misplaced somewhere in the foundling fall,
in the gloom of December;
oddly now in February
a pole is adorned outside the window
waiting a warm May afternoon.
The sunlight cascades its
way down the snowy rise
strewn with small tangled trees
crossed with shadows drawn
in shades of charcoal and gray
on the broken white
erupted with browns and sepias
of corrupted leaves and
the wood’s detritus
until it reaches the
deeply shadowed facade
and collapses in pewter and gray.
The largest trees are
at the top of the rise
their shadows broad and
straight angling across
the low hill with the sunlight
that seems to start at the tops
and wind down to where
the building drops their
elegantly lit heights into
the embrace of shadow and slate.
It is inviting still
to think of walking
the path that traverses
the hill with the sun
even now reaching the ground
dappled here and broken
in the late afternoon.
The walk will have to
wait until the snow
coming tonight and tomorrow
has fallen and soaked into
the broken leaves and
the spring wild flowers
come up with the heat.
East Lansing
February 8, 2010
East Lansing Series
©2010 Shadows — Joseph W. Yarbrough
Reproduction prohibited without written permission.
a rough chill on the skin,
sunlight with new intensity
misplaced somewhere in the foundling fall,
in the gloom of December;
oddly now in February
a pole is adorned outside the window
waiting a warm May afternoon.
The sunlight cascades its
way down the snowy rise
strewn with small tangled trees
crossed with shadows drawn
in shades of charcoal and gray
on the broken white
erupted with browns and sepias
of corrupted leaves and
the wood’s detritus
until it reaches the
deeply shadowed facade
and collapses in pewter and gray.
The largest trees are
at the top of the rise
their shadows broad and
straight angling across
the low hill with the sunlight
that seems to start at the tops
and wind down to where
the building drops their
elegantly lit heights into
the embrace of shadow and slate.
It is inviting still
to think of walking
the path that traverses
the hill with the sun
even now reaching the ground
dappled here and broken
in the late afternoon.
The walk will have to
wait until the snow
coming tonight and tomorrow
has fallen and soaked into
the broken leaves and
the spring wild flowers
come up with the heat.
East Lansing
February 8, 2010
East Lansing Series
©2010 Shadows — Joseph W. Yarbrough
Reproduction prohibited without written permission.