Karen Mooney lives and writes in Craigavon, County Armagh, in Northern Ireland.

Borrowed Seasons
By Karen Mooney

Spring tears up the almanac,
refusing to cast off winter clothes,
squatting in doorways; she inhospitably
blocks the admission of seedtime

Ragged, malnourished, begging
for sustenance yet obstinate;
denying the invitational warmth
of extended light on old bones

Her debt to seasons, overdue.
Will they underwrite her mulish
denial of time to compensate us for
keeping her company as she lags behind?