‘Whitcomb’

 

Prunus x subhirtella 'Whitcomb', 16 February 2016

With its delicate, translucent, purple-pink flowers, 'Whitcomb' is one of my favourite cultivars of any blooming period. When I first notice the buds on the tree at my workplace beginning to unfurl, I celebrate hanami on my lunch breaks. (It's become an annual tradition.) Funny thing: when I view and compare previous years' photos, I notice that as the tree has aged and become more misshapen, the blossoming crown and arrangement of flower clusters along the twiggy branches have become more beautiful. 

Prunus x subhirtella 'Whitcomb' 16 February 2016

 

To waken again

Galanthus nivalis (common snowdrop) under the trees

 

Snowdrops by Louise Glück

Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you.

I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn't expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring--

afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy

in the raw wind of the new world. 

Source: Hello Poetry