Sense of Spring

Haiku of New Flowers and Homecoming for a Pup

And the first, delicate Roman hyacinths have arrived with our recent warm spell.

Roman hyacinths are a very old type of hyacinth, much smaller and simpler than the full-flowered modern Dutch varieties. Unlike the latter, they come only in a limited colour range of basic blue, pink, and white. But they are known for their richer fragrance, undiluted by the desire for larger blooms, and for their ability to settle into the soil and multiply for generations. They fit naturally into my desert garden, with its emphasis on native and species plants; and so far their Mediterranean heritage has served them well in this hot, dry climate.

Here they are in a haiku.

You bring the garden
the bliss of bright blue flowers,
first fragrance of spring.

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Last week I wrote about the new arrival in our house: a tiny waif of a dog. Here is a poem for her.

To Cherry

Butterfly kisses,
Sweet as cherries,
Coat of chocolate,
Feet like fairies,
Just one damsel
Of the peris,
Little outcast 
Lost and wary.
So I spoke a
Simple query,
And to safety
She was carried.
Now she answers
All my queries
With a tail wag;
Eye unwary
Charms my heartstrings–
Powers of peri,
Love’s own magic.
Darling fairy
Lives with us, our
Little Cherry.

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