Depression Before Spring

"Slow Spring", a photo taken in Edmonton on March 20th

March 21st, the first day of spring

This factoid about official calendars, that they date the beginning of spring as March 21st, never fails to amuse Edmontonians. But maybe some optimism about the advent of spring is warranted, as the birdsong today seemed unusually lively.

To celebrate our `slow spring’, I offer Wallace Stevens’s little poem about, if you will, cow spittle and birdsong. There is a Wikipedia commentary here.

Depression Before Spring

The cock crows
But no queen rises.

The hair of my blonde
Is dazzling,
As the spittle of cows
Threading the wind.

Ho! Ho!

But ki-ki-ri-ki
Brings no rou-cou,
No rou-cou-cou.

But no queen comes
In slipper green.

And here is a hymn to the beauty of the world.