Welcome Spring!

But I forgot that your hands fed the roots,

Watering the tangled roses,

Till your fingerprints bloomed

Full, in a natural peace.

Like pets, your hoe and your sprinkling can

Follow you around, biting and licking the earth.

That work is how you let this richness loose,

The carnation’s fiery freshness.

I wish the love and dignity of bees for your hands,

Mixing and spreading their transparent brood

In the earth: they cultivate even my heart,

So that I am like a scorched rock

That suddenly sings when you are near, because it drinks

The water you carry from the forest, in your voice.

-Pablo Neruda (Love Sonnet 39)