Green shoots inspire hope for the future

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Timing is everything in the spring.  If bulbs sending up green shoots are confronted with freezing temperatures at the wrong moments, their fresh growth can perish.  I photographed the appearance of garlic and daffodil shoots in March and April, but neither have progressed–due to a switch from warmer weather to snow and cold.  I covered the garlic with a frost blanket and cross my fingers for future daffodils.

As spring progresses, my first instinct is to wish for flowers…I wrote a poem for the daffodil shoots:

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Rise up

through frost and chill

stretch upwards to green, then

yellow, flourish sweet daffodils,

unfurl.

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Then I thought, encouraging premature growth may be unwise…so I wrote a poem urging the fresh garlic shoots to proceed with caution:

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Softly,

patiently wait

for a perfect moment,

then proudly show your destiny,

survive.

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My poems are cinquains inspired by Jane Dougherty Poetry Challenge #25: ‘Cinquain’.  I am also linking to the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: ‘Future’ –as buds and green shoots inspire hope for future beauty.

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Published by Janice

My name is Janice.  I started blogging as Ontheland when I moved from Toronto to a rural area near Kingston, Ontario in Canada.  Over time I have found myself writing poetry, mostly in Japanese forms, such as haiku and haibun.  One of my deepest interests is the natural world: the joy of it and how we can look after it better.

19 thoughts on “Green shoots inspire hope for the future”

  2. I also hope they listen. Very lovely poems. The photos are marvelous, too, capturing the moment of the young, tender shoots with the frost. Our daffodils are nearly done here, and we’re getting a rain/snow mix today. Ugh!

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  3. I noticed today that my PEI daffs are up about 4″ as are some tulips. Didn’t think to check the garlic, which I forgot to mulch last fall….Hope yours all survive the frigid spring.

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  4. Pingback: Future: Places | What's (in) the picture?
  6. Pingback: Poetry challenge cinquain: the entries – Jane Dougherty Writes

  9. Janice, I lived for so long in warm weather environments, never experiencing a true frost. But your poems remind me of when I lived in New York, and avid gardener, and the first shoots broke through the snowy ground cover. Beautiful work…

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    1. Thanks for your gardening memories and kind compliment… I just recently tuned into the fact that you are in a desert environment…I downloaded the adaptation and survival info you posted perhaps with added inspiration from the wild fires in Fort McMurray.

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      1. I actually reside in Pensacola, Florida now, since 2008. However, my new novel, being released in November, is based in the Tucson Basin. Much of my writing is inspired by 20 years in the Sonoran Desert.
        Susan

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      2. Thanks for that clarification. I probably should have verified my impression by checking your About page! Anyway, it’s good to know this source of inspiration for your writing. I just started to follow your blog and look forward to further reading.

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