Spring Snow
Tyrant Winter reaches
__Beyond its frozen tomb,
Dares cast its icy mantle
__On bud and crocus-bloom.
Long it reigned unchallenged
__In dark and cold and ice;
Thwarted now, it hurls back
__Last volleys as it flies.
Spent, it fails to muster
__Its once-destroying blast;
Failing snows fall gently,
__Not to chill or last.
Lazily they flutter
__In heavy, half-mild air,
Listless, almost hopeful
__To dissolve soon there.
Winter’s once-dread arrows
__Waft softly, twirl with glee,
Weakened by Spring’s onslaught
__To pleasant mockery.
Approaching Storm, Night
The world was dark and still,
__A torrid summer night;
No sound but crickets’ trill,
__No moon, no stars to light—
Only a heavy, velvet veil
Hanging languid, stagnant, stale,
__Shrouding the struggling sight.
Far, far to west it seemed
__A fleeting bone-white flash
Ephemerally gleamed
__Then vanished in a dash.
Another flicker followed close;
Beyond the crickets faintly rose
__A distant, muffled crash.
No doubt a storm drew near
__And shortly would arrive;
No hope could stay or steer
__Its rushing, crushing drive;
No open way to flee its path;
No speed enough to flee its wrath;
__But one thing lingered: fear—
Fear deep-welled, piercing through,
__Vague, indescribable;
Primeval fear men knew
__Before their words could tell;
Fear of Indra, Baal, Zeus, or Thor,
Fear that the quaking wretch longs for
__Gods strong enough to quell.
Spring Song
The sun cuts winter’s freeze,
Kisses a balmy breeze
That rustles still-bare trees
__Where songbirds trill.
Through clumps of melting snows
The wine-hued crocus grows
Along the bright primrose
__And daffodil.
The drab world that has been
Is flush again with green
And bursts with hues unseen
__Since autumn’s wane.
The slumbering world woke,
My love, now shed your cloak—
The time our love first spoke
__Is here again!
Adam Sedia (b. 1984) lives in his native Northwest Indiana, with his wife, Ivana, and their children, and practices law as a civil and appellate litigator. In addition to the Society’s publications, his poems and prose works have appeared in The Chained Muse Review, Indiana Voice Journal, and other literary journals. He is also a composer, and his musical works may be heard on his YouTube channel.
Wonderful poetry, Adam. I am particularly impressed with the storm poem.
All three are fine work. But might I suggest a change in the fourth quatrain of “Spring Snow”?
The line “To dissolve soon there” doesn’t quite fit the meter, and could easily be fixed if “soon” were replaced by “quickly.”