The Deep Greenness of Early Spring

Child, a crooned lyric
She began as a boon
A pot of pure honey
A map of nearby stars

Her tan, bare feet
Ran on a lark
Kicked and giggled
Her youth song into the air

Storm clouds rolled in
Darkening that clear blue
That velvet ocean
Stifling her very atmosphere

A contrary garden sprouted up
Overnight she was a jungle
Roots white as worms
Nubby stalks of nettle

Milk-weed dripping
Leaves purple-tipped like bruises
What monsoon song is this?
Twirled by whirlwinds and swirling pools

I spurn gloves for this work
Her thorns deserve my blood
And what pruning or weeding
Can I claim any right to?

I'm blessed by her scent
A dab of nectar
A visit to the honeycomb
Which flourishes within her now

Her primroses enclose a secret
Still-budding bird of paradise
Flaming orange
Shouting angry verses with its spiked tongue

Crying and pounding paths
Untamed and unfinished
She will burst the gates
She will break out in full regalia.

But a bell still rings
A tinkling there in the trees
A hum and buzz
Among the blossoms

Yet she gazes up at starlight
Feels dusty ground underfoot
Still sweetens my tea
With her honeysuckle voice.

(C) Tasha Chinnock 2013

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Myself

I am an impatient sinner
Swearing more artfully than a sailor,
And then apologizing
in an endless cycle -
“I fall down, I get up, I keep on dancing” -
My heart spends penitent eons
face-down in worship
of a mighty, holy God,
baffled that he loves me
In spite of my vices.

I am a turtle-loving,
literature-shoveling,
artist-in-training,
Internet-dweller, with little freedom
for friendships in real life.
I am a compulsive
lesson-planner
list-maker,
ex-slacker, exhausted
from striving to succeed,
pushing myself ever forward
for the sake of three
who depend on me.

I am a homework-helper
Staying up late to have time
with my own kids
Responsible by necessity
Training myself to do it all
Early riser, bill wrangler,
housework hustler, mistress of car maintenance,
natural remedy distributing
Doctor of Motherhood
Specializing in selfless love.

I am a song-singing, story-telling
Hand-motion choreographer.
I am an eye-popping
Knowledge dropping
Guide to seventeen 5-year-olds
The Pudding Whisperer
Apronless painter
Science experimenting, air guitar rocking
Second mom to a school full
Of runny-nosed angels.

I am a solitary diamond
Too elegant for a mate.
Sleep alone, rise alone,
pray alone, wait.
I am not in a hurry
I don’t need to know
my future – the how or when -
I know the One in control.
My God is great.
I can wait.

I am harmless
I am fierce
I am silly
I am smart
I believe life is an art.
Not a science
Or a dogma
Or even a test.
I live each new day thankfully
I do my best.
And over and over
I am abundantly blessed.

(C) Tasha Chinnock 2013

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