By: Carl “Papa” Palmer

Clocks leapt forward urging us to step forward
from daily gray days of endless days upon days
under dark, dank, drooping fir trees dripping

upon dormant shrubs, slumber slumped bushes,
potted plants playing dead, barren bedding beds,
all reset to sunshine this daylight savings time day.

This hour-early-morning our world exhaled her
held breath allowing buds to untighten tight fists,
to renewal awakenings of hibernating primroses
and display annual reunions of daffodil families.

Our blue sky is back like a promised promise kept
as neighbors gather outside in sudden celebration,
smiling, refreshed, animated, now with time to talk

about spring cleaning, about summer projects,
about yard work, about anything other
than the woeful weather we weathered
or the dire news drivel we heard all winter.

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Carl “Papa” Palmer of Old Mill Road in Ridgeway, Virginia, lives in University Place, Washington. He is retired from the military and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), enjoying life as “Papa” to his descendants and being a Franciscan Hospice volunteer. Poetry awards include Sally-Sue Hughes Memorial Award, DAVA, State Dept. of Florida Award, Veterans Voices T.H. Horton Award and Gladys Feld Helzberg Award.