Apple Blossoms by Susan Kelly-DeWitt

One evening in winter
when nothing has been enough,
when the days are too short,

the nights too long
and cheerless, the secret
and docile buds of the apple

blossoms begin their quick
ascent to light. Night
after interminable night

the sugars pucker and swell
into green slips, green
silks. And just as you find

yourself at the end
of winter’s long, cold
rope, the blossoms open

like pink thimbles
and that black dollop 
of shine called

bumblebee stumbles in.

Apple Blossoms

I know, technically this is the first day of spring, and though the sun peeks out periodically, the temperature still has the chill of winter in it. So even if I am premature, I go looking for poems celebrating the arrival of spring and find this gem. One evening in winter / when nothing has been enough – sometimes in late winter, this is how it feels, cheerless as she tells us. And yet, one of those evenings, the secret / and docile buds of the apple // blossoms begin their quick / ascent to the light. What a gorgeous image of these unseen buds as they rise inexorably toward the sun’s light.

During these seemingly endless nights, the sugars pucker and swell / into green slips, green / silks. Can’t you just picture these viridescent jewels unfolding? She captures that sense of weariness, of wanting the season to change, of being at the end / of winter’s long, cold /rope. But just then, she rewards us with the promise that the blossoms will open like pink thimbles, tiny delicate flowering cups. And as if that were not enough, that black dollop / of shine called / bumblebee stumbles in. Sigh of contentment. Can’t you just imagine this, even if it’s not happening yet where you are – but it will, a poet told me so.