April is Poetry Month: Day 13

 Cat on a Night of Snow

Cat, if you go outdoors you must walk in the snow.

You will come back with little white shoes on your feet,

little white shoes of snow that have heels of sleet.

Stay by the fire, my Cat.  Lie still, do not go.

See how the flames are leaping and hissing low.

I will bring you a saucer of milk like a marguerite,

so white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet--

stay with me, Cat.  Outdoors the wild winds blow.

Outdoors, the wild winds blow, Mistress, and dark is the night,

strange voices cry in the trees, intoning strange lore,

and more than cats move, lit by our eyes' green light,

on silent feet where the meadow grasses hang hoar--

Mistress, there are portents abroad of magic and might,

and things that are yet to be done. Open the door!

                                                            --Elizabeth Coatsworth

From: Winter Poems, selected by Barbara Rogasky, Illustrated byTrina Schart Hyman, Scholastic, 1994.

Why on earth should I share a winter poem in April?  Well, this is Minnesota.  A week ago we had piles of snow and winter seemed intent on lingering on forever.  Then we had tropical temperatures, the snow disappeared and the leaves prepared to burst forth.  What could next week bring?  

I picked this poem because we have a cat like "Cat" who loves to experience the weather regardless of what it is.  I like the push and pull in this poem between the warmth and comfort of hearth and home and the mystery and magic of the night in the outdoors.  Now that there is at least the hope of spring coming back day after day, I want to say, like the Cat...Open the door!