C is for Crocus

C is for Crocus and

and Verse Composition 

(otherwise know as a poem)

I love crocuses. They are the first bright color in my yard each year and they always make me smile. Over the past two falls, I've planted a few bulbs here and there at my new house, so I could continue to enjoy these cheery reminders of spring. I will plant more this fall because I love the surprise of seeing the pop of their color.

Here's what I've seen this spring.

In addition to April being A-Z Challenge month, it is also National Poetry Month. So to celebrate that, below is a poem (verse compostion) about crocuses.

The Crocuses

by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 1825-1911

They heard the South wind sighing 

 A murmur of the rain; 

And they knew that Earth was longing 

 To see them all again. 

While the snow-drops still were sleeping 

Beneath the silent sod; 

They felt their new life pulsing 

 Within the dark, cold clod. 

Not a daffodil nor daisy 

 Had dared to raise its head; 

Not a fairhaired dandelion 

 Peeped timid from its bed;

Though a tremor of the winter 

 Did shivering through them run; 

Yet they lifted up their foreheads 

 To greet the vernal sun.

 And the sunbeams gave them welcome, 

 As did the morning air— 

And scattered o’er their simple robes 

 Rich tints of beauty rare.

Soon a host of lovely flowers

 From vales and woodland burst; 

But in all that fair procession 

The crocuses were first.

First to weave for Earth a chaplet 

 To crown her dear old head; 

And to beauty the pathway 

Where winter still did tread.

And their loved and white haired mother 

 Smiled sweetly ’neath the touch, 

When she knew her faithful children 

 Were loving her so much. 

Credit: This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on September 9, 2018, by the Academy of American Poets.