Today’s poem comes from my collection, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver. My late husband Bill loved to sit outside in the sun. One year, when spring came after a difficult winter, he was anxious to do this but frustrated because it still wasn’t warm enough. That is what inspired me to write this poem. You can read more about Bill and me in My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds, which can be downloaded absolutely free this month from Smashwords. See below for details.
This poem is a haibun. It contains two paragraphs of prose followed by one stanza of haiku. You can click on the title to hear me read it.
Spring’s Hopelessness
Spring comes wet with little sun. Hope is dashed by the wind that buffets the house, rattles wind chimes, rain that drums on the roof. Without enough warmth, grass, flowers, trees, shrubs won’t grow.
He loves the sun, can’t get enough. It’s one of his few pleasures, since he can no longer walk or use his left arm or care for himself. After a brutal winter with endless snow, frigid temperatures, he longs to enjoy the sun’s healing warmth.
wishes for the sun
fall on the deaf ears of God
wait for warmth to come
By the way, for the next month, My Ideal Partner and The Red Dress are available on Smashwords as part of its sale to support those isolated as a result of the coronavirus situation. Please click here to visit my Smashwords author page and download these books. Thank you for stopping by and reading today.
New! The Red Dress
Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
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My Corner 
Hi Abbie,
After walking my dogs for the second time – the firs time was at 4 am – preparing morning breakfast and feeding the 7 cats, and giving one dog her morning medication – making coffee, and washing the dishes from the dog and cat breakfast – I finally got to come into my office and sit down to begin reading email.
The sun is already bright so I know it’s going to be a pleasant day. My husband should be asleep for another hour or so – and I am settled down with my first cup of French Roast Coffee with a delicious creamer.
Your email and blog article is the first poem and e-mail I opened today – and this poem is so moving. It is so sad and your title surely captures the feeling of it – hopelessness. I can’t think of anything more pervasive than that feeling we get at times when nothing seems to be going as we would have wanted.
I could feel the hopelessness not only because of weather conditions, heightened expectations that were unrealistic, and the sense that there is nothing more than what is here and now – and no real hope that anything will change. You really captured it and this was a tremendously powerful poem. Thanks for sharing this poem.
Abbie.
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You’re welcome, Lynda. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
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Reblogged this on Campbells World.
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