"Enjoy each day, like it was your last."

Maybe it's the changing of another season that makes one contemplative. Or a reunion of old friends marking the march of time. Or an anniversary that seems absurd to be yours. Where did the time go? How does time keep moving? As I was planting in my garden, looking forward to the vegetables promised for the warmer months I was suddenly stunned by how fast it all goes. I remember my mom telling me two things that seemed to flow off me like water off a duck (oh blissful youth). She would say "Enjoy each day, like it was your last." and "Never wish away a day, you only get it once." As I thought about these things, I reached into my side pocket and plucked out my small writer's notebook and with hands dirty from digging rows for carrots I wrote this "Ode To Spring".

Spring, awesome with it's promise, STAY... STAY... STAY...


SEASONS COME… SEASONS GO…

Trees cling to leaves so tightly, as summer goes away
The clouds are tossing angrily, now the sky is growing gray

The mornings snap of early cold. Winter’s distant rumbles heard
Autumn holds her place for now ‘Twill go south oh flock of bird

The leaves are drifting one by one, and soon will fill this space
For now they cling so tightly, in this annual season’s race.

Trees that cover my front porch, so red and orange and bronze
The deep dark green receding, that was once adjoining lawns

Soon the piles of leaves will grow. To run and jump right in
children’s voices, oh songs of joy. Bundled up, each with a small grin!

The porch displays of pumpkins bright, with scarecrows set on bales
And jack-o-lantern’s grimace - witches ride on broom’s straw tails

The crunch of leaves below heard on my country street
so soon I will surrender, to put shoes on my bare feet.

Oh summer, I will miss you, but the beauty of autumn’s come
Soon winter with her pallid coat - my fingers and toes so numb

Sledding days and snowmen and icicles hung on eaves
soon we’ll hang festive lights, the door and windows wreathed

A candle in each window will glow on the snow at night
and in the day the cold blanket will make our world so bright

Then soon the winter cold will go, comes the melt from warming sun
Spring will fill the world around, and with that outdoor fun

The ice on lakes will thin. The leaves begin to show.
We’ll lose thick warm sweaters, back to barefoot days we’ll go!

Summer will wink one morning. The afternoons grow so hot
the pool, the hose and water sport, cold popsicles, I’d once forgot

Riding bikes and skateboards. Just hanging out all day
shorts, flip flops and swim suits, so many games to play.

Summertime means no homework! Late nights for hide n seek
The months fly by so quickly, then again autumn will peek…

New school clothes and a lunchbox, with the school bus on the street
And when I look back down, I gasp; there are shoes upon my feet.