SOFTWOOD

Hope in Winter

Two months of windy cold and rain
became a crystal blue surprise
on Christmas day.
Clear now, and warming,
the prodigal sun wakes the yaupons
and the live oaks
and the pines, granting each
a slightly brighter flush of green.
They stretch and vainly pose
in the unexpected light,
impudently dare the soon returning gray
with how their freshened colors shine.
Rocking in the breeze they seem
almost like children at play
on the beach in summertime.