Today
If every there were a spring day so perfect,
So uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
That it made you want to throw
Open all the windows in the house
And unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
Indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
A day when the cool brick paths
And the garden bursting with peonies
Seemed so etched in sunlight
That you felt like taking
A hammer to the glass paperweight
On the living room end table,
Releasing the inhabitants
From their snow-covered cottage
So they could walk out,
Holding hands and squinting
Into this larger dome of blue and white,
Well, today is just that kind of day.
by Billy Collins
I love peonies. Had a hedge of them in Nashville prompted up by a white wood fence. Mother’s Day they were always in full bloom. Everyone who stopped to comment got some to take home. Smells like heaven.
So wonderful. I have memories of taking fragrant arm loads full to grade school teachers, walking all the way there with my nose in their blooms! We have some of those same plants.
Love this poem so much. I often tune into his live FB hour. And your peonies are gorgeous. I planted 3 this year. A favorite flower. Their season here is over…sigh.