February hangs in the balance.
Sunlight’s proving deceptive,
luring snowdrops out of the mulch
to be decapitated by frost.
Midway down the garden,
our anniversary rose
holds its ground, stately
in its refusal to bud.
Those profligate others ...
Well, here, perhaps, we’ll shake
at the season’s mastery –
almost precisely as he put it:
