"Just Make It Spring"

"Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever!" (Ps. 22:26)

Just Make It Spring

Just make it spring, they say—and joy glowed

Crimson, stuff of apple-buds and fresh-chipped leaves,

With frippery of roses: pink and silky-toed

And fragrant as that Eden-dream that grieves

Our snowed-in souls.

But I say, make it autumn: smear skies with bloody

Sunsets, blow glass-tipped winds, and freeze my fingers

Till they blanch and crack and bleed their ruddy

Life. My joy flames fierce on dying leaves—and lingers

Over half-burnt coals.