#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
River's Edge
A walk in March woods is a poke in the eye.
It's not the day of the storm, or a day after, it's two days after and the field is a crusted moonscape, potholed, and even on snow shoes an exhausting effort of spirit.
Too many broken branches to dodge.
An eye is stung, it pools, it leaks.
But I keep trudging along the river, through the brook, into the woods, to the tracks, the bridge, under the trestle, I trip on dead vines, fall onto the frozen snow, more than once, get up, more than once, I'm seeking something to restore my spirit. I gave up, yesterday, returned home early. Today I seek harder and longer and I'm all the way home an in my own yard before I find what I've been looking for, right where I planted it some years ago.
“Pussy willow is a name given to many of the smaller species of the genus Salix (willows and sallows) when their furry catkins are young in early spring.
Before the male catkins of these species come into full flower they are covered in fine, greyish fur, leading to a fancied likeness to tiny cats, also known as “pussies”. The catkins appear long before the leaves, and are one of the earliest signs of spring. ”
Furry Catkins, Pussy Willow