April Flowers Bring May Showers
You festive blossoms—whose ephemeral lives are poured
Ecstatically into youthful grass as you dance toward
Your death—your petals ornament the air, drift down
From winter branches that appeared bare aging bone
Before your lavish gift of flesh and color. Dense-
ly robed with Easter’s white and pink (displacing Lent’s
Bruised skies’ vestments), sacrificially you now
Yield your lofty place to fledgling leaves, go low,
As if—while down into the verdant earth you’re poured—
You are assured of heaven’s eventual reward,
And that you’ll nourish annual offspring: next year’s pink
And white will flourish, as between green blades you sink.
Cynthia Erlandson is a poet and fitness professional living in Michigan. Her third collection of poems, Foundations of the Cross and Other Bible Stories, was released in July, 2024 by Wipf and Stock Publishers. Her other collections are These Holy Mysteries and Notes on Time. Her poems have also appeared in First Things, Modern Age, The North American Anglican, The Orchards Poetry Review, The Book of Common Praise hymnal, The Catholic Poetry Room, and elsewhere.
This is great stuff Cynthia — very nicely done! I especially love the clever imagery and rhyming, not to mention that “verdant” has long been one of my favorite words. May you and Paul have a great holiday!
Thank you so much, Russel! May you and Vicki enjoy the verdant summer.
Cynthia, flowering trees are such a profuse blessing as is your poem depicting them as “…May Showers.”
Thank you, Roy. Blossom showers are both exhiliratingly beautiful, and sad — I wish the blossoms would stay on the trees much longer.
For years my across-the-street neighbor had three kwanzan cherry trees in his front yard. The bloom was spectacular every year, but once the flowers began to fade and the petals were ready to fall, any stiff breeze would create what appeared to be pink snow of blizzard proportions. The winds, of course, were supposed to happen in March, an inversion much like the one in the title of this poem. Clearly the poet has paid as much attention to what goes on outside as what is going on inside.
Thank you, C.B.! Since you’re an expert gardener, I’m sure you have always noticed such things as the annual order of garden events, and “pink snow of blizzard proportions”. They are so beautiful to watch, but so brief.
Yes, brief. Thank God.
This is great stuff. It’s not easy to write yet another poem about spring flowers which is new and different from what came before, and which is aesthetically, intellectually and spiritually meaningful and engaging. This poem delivers on all levels for me. Well done!
What a wonderful and comprehensive comment, Yael — thank you very much! It is amazing how many different perspectives there are to be seen in natural seasonal events. Maybe that’s one reason there are so many poets in the world!
What a witty spring flower poem, Cynthia! Your apostrophe to the falling festive blossoms has them twice “poured” down the “sink,” as you comment on their ephemeral ecstasy dancing and drifting downward. Meanwhile you notice their sacrificial function in nature and in sacred time. Nothing of significance seems neglected in your diverse observations. As Yael remarks, your lines are carefully crafted to be “aesthetically, intellectually, and spiritually meaningful and engaging.” The reader receives a “lavish gift” indeed!
I’m so happy that you saw all those things, Margaret — thank you very much! When I see these blossom showers happening, I’m mesmerized by them, and can’t look away, knowing their beauty will be even briefer than the blossoms’ time of clinging to the trees. Before they fall, I feel like I want to look at the trees all day, as they seem to be saying something so profound.
Beautiful, Cynthia. I especially liked the image of ‘Displacing Lent’s/ Bruised skies…’ with all its nuances of meaning.
Your comment makes me smile, Rohini — thank you so much! I vaguely remember looking for, and being happy to find, “Lent’s” as a rhyme for “dense”. And I really wanted to use the word “dense” (though even it doesn’t say enough to fully express the beauty of the short time when the trees are still full of color).
I love the way you slant what could so easily be cliches in this poem to make even the most prosaic of images unique and exciting. ‘Lent’s Bruised skies’ vestments’ and sinking between ‘green blades’ are just two turns of phrase that lift this poem to the memorable.
Thanks for the read.
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Paul! I’m so glad you consider that I’ve succeeded in avoiding cliches, and that you think the images are unique and exciting.
Wonderfully lush, rich language that is your hallmark. I also enjoy the intertwining of religious themes of rebirth and resurrection from the Easter season with its reflection in nature.