Ephemeral

Ephemeral

The White Witch of winter lingered too long,
‘Til the sun soared higher, welcomed and warm.
Spring finally dawned with its sweet birdsong…
Tempered by cool breeze of April rainstorm.

The wrens hunkered down, with eggs in the nest,
Then hatching time came, when young chicks were freed.
Now Mama is busy, no time for rest…
Too many babies, hungry mouths to feed.

An ancient pull lifts them to higher height,
From tender down to feathers, trim and neat.
Spreading delicate wings, taking first flight…
The circle of life finally complete.

Hearts rise with hope as the sweet hatchlings sing
Of the ephemeral beauty of spring.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2025
April 17, 2026

Happy Friday, family and friends! I got a jump start on my blog this week because I actually took today off, woo hoo!

Somehow the word “ephemeral” popped into my mind this morning, and I wanted to use it as a theme for this week’s blog. I was a bit baffled as to how to make it work with this week’s challenge prompts, but I think I may have pulled it off, combining it with my bird nerd tendencies LOL.

“Ephemeral (noun) – something that lasts for a very short time : something ephemeral; specifically : a plant that grows, flowers, and dies or goes dormant in a few days.” (Merriam Webster) Or in the theme of my poem, spring and nesting birds… 🙂

It sometimes seems as if spring doesn’t last for very long, doesn’t it? I know when we lived in Florida, the seasons were incredibly short, especially spring! And so far this year in Virginia, it has been very temperamental, cold for a stretch, with the temps shoot from the 30-40’s to a blazing 92 degrees in the course of a day. That actually happened this week. Our April 15 celebration party was at an outdoor rooftop bar, and the heat was just unbearable. We were all sweating profusely – it’s way too soon to be this hot! If it’s 92 degrees and I’m outside – I want to be sipping pina coladas by a POOL, haha!

Finally, we actually do have Carolina wrens that built a nest on our CHRISTMAS wreath – yeah, I forgot about changing it up, being so busy during tax season. By the time I was ready to put up an Easter wreath, I discovered that the wrens had a built a beautiful nest, and I peeked in and there were definitely eggs. The parents are still nesting and guarding it, as they have been for several weeks…but I don’t think the eggs have hatched yet. I can’t hear small chirps through the door, but maybe they are just stealthy. My cats sure are enjoying the activity, though! Okay, now go outside enjoy spring ASAP before it slips into summer! xoxo

Love,
Colleen

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 42.17 – Too Many Babas **(I used babies)
Hard Bonus: Incorporate a song title or lyric by Frankie Valli and/or The Four Seasons   (“Rainstorm”)
Easy Bonus: Include a C.S. Lewis character (“White Witch” aka Jadis in “The Chronicles of Narnia”)