Winter Into Spring

The past few days have been rainy and cold.

 Flowers have appeared, only to be assaulted 

by temperatures verging into frost; the delicate leaves

of magnolia show the rusty scars inflicted

by the cold and the winds.

Here, the fresh green leaves on a shrub

stand shoulder to shoulder with the remains

of decorative grasses, its ashen colors revealing 

the hardships it endured during winter.