By Doreen Hopwood

Winter loosens Her tenacious grip,
trees slip
into greening bud
as torrents of snowdrops flood
the forest floor.

Spikes of sunlight, dazzling,
reaching
into secret places,
succeed in melting all traces
of boreal snow.

Spring arrives surreptitiously,
propitiously
thrusting exuberant daffodils
through slumbering hills
and wooded glens.

Prickly yellow flowered gorse
shows no remorse
for banished leaden skies
as the leveret lies
hid beneath her jagged thorns.

Lacerating north wind ferocity
cannot match the tenacity
of cherry blossom
clinging to the lissom
trees.

Frost flees before Ostara's might,
long dark nights
give way to Spring's Equinox,
and joyous birdsong mocks
Winter's demise.

©Doreen Hopwood