online: 21 february 2005

21 february 2005 spring and all*


15:28 first walk on the heath for a week or two...

one tree with buds already opening

snowdrops, crocuses and a few daffodils simultaneously in bloom. also rhodendendrons (fuchsia)

sunshine and no wind as i walked here through the forest. - i'm now in the outdoor cafe and suddenly snow is falling - or is it a gentle form of hail?

little white granules that do not melt on the wooden tables (or on the canvas umbrellas over my table, and others)

they fall noiselessly

the only other person sitting outside turns to say goodbye... goodbye

and the snow stops as i continue to eat thick carrot soup and a thick slice of bread

a robin perches on a chair (within half a metre) - it flies away and then returns and sings a few notes... i look at it intently and can see individual feathers moving independently and i am surprised at the strength and thinness of its feet and legs

three large wood pigeons in a small tree - they flap their wings audibly as they move from branch to branch, making the tree sway with their weight

the snow/hail has ceased and what fell is now melted - each of the particles that fell on my violet plastic bag is for the moment a violet drop of water

and now, having written this, and eaten, i look about before leaving.

a man is closing the umbrellas
and now the sun is behind cloud and big snowflakes are falling rapidly
and i set off to walk back in a snowstorm
thankful that i brought an umbrella...

...but i waited indoors until the heavy snowfall ceased and walked back among whitened trees and meadows and snow piled on blackberry leaves.

*i recall William Carlos Williams' brief poems on a page that someone had left open yesterday in the Poetry Library - lines of only one to four words naming inconspicuous parts of the places where he lived and worked in the 1930s, as a doctor. Spring and All is the title of one of his poems and also of a book of poems and prose in the writing of which he says 'I began ... to understand what I was at...'




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