March Snow

Sitting here writing on this first full day of Spring and watching it snow all day, I couldn't think of a better time to post the following poem by Stephani Franklin. Thanks to Meredeth Allen for passing this along.

“March Snow”
by Stephani Franklin

Icy morning penance
Catches revelers off guard
To their sorrow;
Affirms ascetics
Of their canon.
Snug under a blanket of
Mulch and warming earth,
Smug, biding their time
Reciting pious axioms,
“Good things come to those who wait.” 
“Patience is a virtue.”


I lament the carousers:
Heads bowed, freezing;
Icicles dripping from
Outstretched frond.
I craved spring.
They felt my longing and obliged
Cheerfully, foolishly,
Bad influences, egging each other on
“It’s spring somewhere, let’s get this party started.
Laissez le bon temps roulet!”
As midnight
Skulked in the alley.

For a few short days
They were the life of the party;
First krewe in the parade.
Staggering, laughing
Leaning on one another
Lifting their shirts
With a boozy wink,
“Throw me some bead, mister!”
Thumbing their nose at forty days
Of ash and deprivation
And me cheering them on
From my kitchen window.

The virtuous will see the sunrise
On Easter morning.
They always do.
But I won’t need them
In April.
They’ll emerge in a din
Azaleas, quince, iris, peony,
Sunday morning congregation
Reverently filing in
Just another fancy hat in the pew

I will remember my good time
friends;
The lovely drunks
Singing a little too loud,
Swaying in my yard
At the tail-end of winter.
Who came out when they shouldn’t
Who misbehaved.
Who knew better.
But did, anyway.
Cheers!
(Nov. 2009)