✨ Titania's Vow

It is tempting...

Titania’s Vow

It is tempting
in the spring—to count
the losses.

Lingonberry
which promised
to persist through
any weather.

Butterfly weed
whose clusters
draw the monarch,
feed the young.

The new currant
meant to capture,
once again,
those tart-sweet mornings!

Now the rains uncover and uncover.

By April, cruellest month,
I will turn to see beginnings
of what has survived:

Sage, thyme, shiso,
my daughter’s birthday rose.
Parsley, lavender, rosemary.
Blueberries in the back yard.
Blackberries (four varieties).
The split maple grown tall—so tall—

And enough mint
to make Moroccan tea
all summer,
for anyone
who happens by.

Even my ailing Oberon.

—L.L. Barkat, author of Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing

Note: Titania and Oberon are the queen and king of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oberon rules winter and Titania rules summer.