Almost Spring?

I thought I'd post a poem a week...on Thursdays. Thursday is as good a day as any. It's a gorgeous sunny day and it feels positively spring-like. I am impatient to see the first daffodils bloom, but I don't think I will be waiting for long. There are snowdrops everywhere. Their dainty, white bells contrasted sharply against the green grass and "mud-luscious" earth. ( I like "mud-luscious"...I borrowed it from the poem). And yet it is still early February!   Today's poem is by e.e. cummings.

in Just

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles  far   and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far  and   wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and
   the

      goat-footed

balloonMan   whistles
far
and
wee

ee cummings 100 Selected Poems

I think at first reading it appears to be a poem about spring. But it is also about growing up. The balloonman, who is like Pan, the god of nature and spring and fertility, comes along. He whistles and the boys and girls leave their childish pursuits and run towards maturity, or adulthood. I think it is an excellent read-aloud poem because then you can hear the rhythms created by cummings, using words and spaces.