The days are colder than they’ve been this winter, but still the cold sun whispers spring. Every day adds another five minutes of daylight and when it’s sunny as it is today water drops from eaves at noon. I can feel the branches stretch with rush of sap. The hazel is blooms with tiny flowers and the pussy willow buds are filling, waiting yet to burst.
hesitating —
daylight can’t be trusted
hoarfrost on the buds
When I was young my mother used to cut some branches and put in water just in time before Easter. I remember caressing willow kittens, believing that the spring had come. This time of year, the winter-spring is full of hope, and when I can I turn my face toward the sun, but still we feed the birds, cause every night is icy cold. The buds are waiting just like me.
tzi-da, tzi-da —
at my kitchen window
another great tit
Sleep little willow by Elsa Beskow
Today Victoria hosts haibun Monday at dVerse with the topic is No Ko Me—Tree Buds. A wonderful time of the year to wonder what happens in nature.
Just thought I’d share a translation of a Swedish children’s song for the illustration I have chosen:
Sleep little willow
it’s still winter
Still asleep are birch and heather
rose and hyacinths
It’s still a long time until spring
before rowan is flowering
Sleep little willow
it’s still winter
Sunshine’s eye is watching you
sunshine’s arms rock you
The forest’s path will soon be green
and every flower will bloom
Yet a little sunshine prayer
little willow becomes so green
Sunshine’s eye sees you
sunshine’s arms rock you.
—-
March 5, 2018
Björn Rudbergs writings 
I too wrote about trust. There’s something about this transition season that makes us question, doubt, and then maybe even renew our faith.
You have to trust that spring is here before you burst.
I truly wish the sun would stopping whispering. Lovely write my friend.
These are so perfect for the prompt. This is such a fickle time of year as that last lovely poem shows as well as your Haibun. Delightful, all of it.
It is.. and I grew up with the image of the little willow… (and other by the same artist)
What a beautiful little poem to with an equally beautiful photo. Really enjoyed them. 🙂
I actually love this time of the year… the return of daylight mean so much to me even when it’s cold.
I love more daylight. I’m an ‘wake with the sun, sleep with the sun’ type of person.
You would find it hard in summer here… very very short nights.. 🙂
The great tits at the window, and the blue tits and the long-tailed tits, all clamoring to be have their turn at the bird food. That’s spring too.
Indeed… they have started to sense the spring too. We have great tits and blue tits in our garden
They will have already started nesting.
My mother used to cut willow branches as well. I liked this sentence: “I can feel the branches stretch with rush of sap.”
I think I should try to get some willow to put in water…
Thank you for the haibun and the children’s song, both were lovely. Spring feels both very close and very far off at the moment, the added daylight is keeping me hanging on though.
I actually enjoy this piece of winter… but I think we both have the same piece of winter coming from the east.
Indeed.
Your link to dVerse is not working and I cannot find your post …
added another, could you see if that works and let me know if it doesn’t please?
Yes now it works
Think I copied the link from that odd second editing page you get when you hit publish my mistake. Apologies.
Yes, the garden is full of birdsong, and there is a sense that spring is coming. Someone told me you shouldn’t put pussy willow in water, if you keep it dry you prolong the life of those soft grey buds. Thank you for reminding me of pussy willow, it’s such a special thing at this time of year. There’s nothing quite as soft and smooth.
They are so wonderful to caress those little pussy willows…
Beautiful and moving haibun. I especially love the song you provided. I have cut some branches of forsythia and missy willow and placed them in a jar of water inside. I love watching them awaking.
Oh yes, forsythia is lovely too… but that’s too early yet for us.
It is just beginning to put out its yellow bells here – still unfolding.
Yes, I’ve noticed that gradual increase in daylight also. It’s glorious!
Lovely! I adore pussy willows!!
Your haibun so eloquently captures the chrysalis nature of this time of year. Winter slowly, grudingly recedes to an emerging Spring. O When? And how long?
I adore everything about your poem, the image, and the Swedish children’s song. I’ve posted it to my pinterest page. 🙂
Beautiful. I like how you included a haiku in the middle as well as at the end.
Ah yes, light cannot be trusted in the spring. One day is warm and two days later back to freezing again. Hesitating buds… I like that!
Dwight
This is all so lovely, Björn–the mix of hesitating spring, the willows, childhood songs, and childhood memories. I am also lured and heartened by the longer days, though it is certainly not as cold here as where you are. That extra sunlight brightens everything.
its lovely to read how spring transitions from winter where you life and the traditions that mark its entrance. thank you for the lovely translation of that children’s song, it’s so full of reassurance.
I love the branches stretch with rush of sap and pussy willow buds filling, waiting to burst. Such anticipation!
So touching, all of it, Bjorn. Spring is an iffy time. We have to have faith. Perhaps that is the message of Easter…Hope and faith. Your haibun is lovely and the children’s song is too. We have had a very early winter here in the south, snow on Dec. 3rd, very unusual and again in early January….and these were real snowstorms. Then such warm spring weather and now back to cold. The Earth can’t seem to make up its mind. The snowfalls were followed by the brightest blue skies I have ever seen. Yes, I agree, we must have faith that Spring will come before we burst.
I really do love the idea of Northern springtime – it seems so magical. I also recall the willow catkins of my youth.
love the image of the willow buds – still snug in their warm winter coats – charming sound of the bird at your window
“I can feel the branches stretch with rush of sap.”
Luv this very sensitive image from You. Happy Tuesday
Much🌼love
The second poem suits my taste rhe better . We had the pussy willows in Nebraska, some cut and put in water.
..
I get giddy with every 5 minute addition. *sigh* And yet I have another storm heading my way tomorrow.
Such a tender and heartfelt piece. Lovely.
Love the gentleness of the words and images, how it reminds us that spring is about to come… but winter isn’t yet gone.
Beautiful! Love the double prose pieces and the sprinkling of haiku at middle and close. The illustration, you chose and the children’s song worked so well with your pussy willow reminiscence.
The buds are waiting just like me… beautiful sense of anticipation ..lovely haibun Bjorn.
I love the tenderness – of your poem, the illustration, and the children’s song.
A lot of faith and hope here…thank you!
Lovely, Bjorn, acute too because the winter has so overstayed its welcome this year. (Are you also being mistreated by the Beast From the East?) There springlike yearning of the first haibun finds even deeper meaning in the wintry retreat of the second.
The beast from the east has been for a visit, but now it’s back to normal
Lovely. So hopeful. My mother used to force forsythia blooms (do you have those?). I never remember. By the time I do, they’re already blooming. 🙂
https://saschadarlington.me/2018/03/06/hyacinth-under-ice/
Winter-Spring does sit on the fence for a time. It keeps anticipation levels high. Love the illustration and song!
What a lovely picture and a lovely song! Pussy willow is a special sign of spring.
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