Patricia M. Twining-Obarski
Works

Adagio of a Winter Afternoon

I spent the winter reading verse

Watching the wet snow

Bend fragile boughs

Petting my dark faced, calico cat

Separated from the world of trees:

Tassels of white pines

Feathery wings of cedar

Swags of blue spruce

I think in the Spring I will plant a garden

Canterbury bells, dianthus, delphiniums

Fringed by lavender plumes and lupine spikes

A bed of sweet woodruff

A patch of herbs:

Tarragon, lemon balm, and sage

A winter’s day wistful yearnings

For sweet, summer scents

Roses and honeysuckles

For the taste of the first fresh apples

Baked with cinnamon and cloves

I think of all the things

I want to do:

To touch

To smell

To taste

Or like the evergreens

Weighted with snow

Will these desires be entrapped?