as for march

The daffodils came early this year.

I watched them rising from the second floor window.
when I closed my eyes I could almost smell them and
reaching through the plate glass, they taunted me with
sideways comments and nudges and winks to dress
for 10 degrees warmer than the calendar instructed.

two days later at 5:23 in the afternoon I saw the first cloud.
It was one and a half hours before the hail came, ten hours before the snow, fifteen before you rose from my side too early to eat plain yogurt and watch from the window and twenty-two before the tipping winter rays left spotted streaks on the damp front sidewalk. I could make out the yellow freckles a bit farther away and underneath, considering a strategic withdrawal.

or maybe just a late lunch.

it was hard to tell.