The first day of spring was back on March 20. Imagine that after months of cold and gray, you get a day that finally feels like what the calendar says.
Now think of a relationship that’s been stuck in winter for more months than you care to count. Imagine the first signs of thaw.
The First Warm Rays
after a long freeze
draws people
who wouldn’t think of going sweaterless
into a September evening when it dips to 60 degrees
outside when it’s 40
in shorts and a tee,
just to feel the sun
behaving like itself again.
Like the return of an estranged family member
or a friend you’ve had a falling out with.
It’s clear to us now,
the distinction
between absence and presence.
And,
having gone so long without,
we rush, arms wide,
eager to embrace
and wash away what’s clung to us
in the interim.
~ Marilyn Yocum
Marilyn graciously gave permission for me to use this poem in The Joy of Poetry, but it dropped off in the rewrite, for which I am still sad. Because this is the kind of poem I love. It’s about something specific (people enjoying the spring sunshine) and also something abstract (“the distinction / between absence and presence.”)
Your turn.
(By the way, y’all were great yesterday! Thanks for playing along.)
