ah that weakness of the knees tolls my bell!
-----Original Message-----
From: Max Richards
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 4:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 'February Walk'
February Walk
Capitol Hill North, Seattle
Staying home for fear of rain
risks cabin fever. Out then!
breathing freshness, till (drat!)
raindrops! - we turn for home,
missing thus the full uphill strain
through steep inclines past old gardens
in their winter recess, reconquered
by mosses not seen for months.
Missing also now our pride
of conquest sensed each time last year
in Volunteer Park, mounting so high,
where the water tower invites
to further climbing, even more
panorama, plus a chance of almost
vertigo, weakness at the knees,
postponed descent. Up there today
we’d be right inside the raincloud
as drizzling it speckles the wide
water below to refill the depleted
reservoir. All this I've missed - can’t say
what the dog missed - the mist?
short-circuited, deprived of all
those side-street nostril-filling
satisfactions by his rain-shy master.
This fresh camellia, I stole last night
from the corner garden, doesn’t
interest him, nor last week’s willow
twig with furry catkins, settled
in their shared vase, earnest
of the coming season - new
bulbs, longer walks, clear skies
brightening all we see, and us.
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