Poem for Sunday and October Snow

Crocus
By Alfred Kreymborg

When trees have lost remembrance of the leaves
that spring bequeaths to summer, autumn weaves
and loosens mournfully -- this dirge, to whom
does it belong -- who treads the hidden loom?

When peaks are overwhelmed with snow and ice,
and clouds with crepe bedeck and shroud the skies --
nor any sun or moon or star, it seems,
can wedge a path of light through such black dreams --

All motion cold, and dead all traces thereof:
What sudden shock below, or spark above,
starts torrents raging down till rivers surge --
that aid the first small crocus to emerge?

The earth will turn and spin and fairly soar,
that couldn't move a tortoise-foot before --
and planets permeate the atmosphere
till misery depart and mystery clear! --

And yet, so insignificant a hearse? --
who gave it the endurance so to brave
such elements? -- shove winter down a grave? --
and then lead on again the universe?

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Pretty much my entire Saturday was taken up with the freak October snowstorm that struck the east coast. We had it very easy here -- my in-laws got several inches piled on their street, my sister's area lost power, my friends in New England got a foot of snow -- but we had precipitation from before dawn (which was not apparent, as it was still quite dark outside at 9 a.m.) until evening, with snow showers on and off during the morning and quite hard snowfall for several hours in the afternoon, though thankfully it only stuck to metal surfaces like cars, not to streets and more importantly not to local tree branches which could have fallen on roads and power lines. I blame the snow for the terrible conditions in College Park that caused the Terps to fall to Boston College.

Anyway, after our late start in the darkness, it was a pretty quiet day. Except for a brief shopping trip to the mall, which was unsurprisingly mobbed with people like us who decided it was the only safe place to take a walk given the weather, we mostly hung out, read, and watched football. Adam was in and out with friends (and apparently earned the approval of his maybe-girlfriend's parents during an after dinner visit), but the cats lounged on the couch with us all afternoon and evening. We watched the third and fourth episodes of the current season of Merlin, which I'd thought would make me sad but were instead so amazingly slashy that I couldn't work up any real unhappiness. I am more annoyed that Ohio State beat Wisconsin! And now I must sleep so we can take Adam to King's Dominion tomorrow as a late birthday present.