Rain Check

All our plans have been held like seeds
left in their package.
To be admired for their beauty
of what they might become,
but still they hibernate -
waiting for the ground to yield
enough to take their roots.

Nature plays us the fools,
constantly changing her temperament.
On cloudless, sunny days
we take out our package of seeds
and talk of planting the following morn.
Only to arise to the howling wind,
spitting our names on the windowpanes
with an icy chill.
We put away our package of seeds
until another day.

We are spent with our continual routines
forgetting that we have laid aside our seeds
in the planting shed
until we see the blooms drooping
from the trees and know that we have waited too long.
Perhaps we will try again next year.

k.h. engl