This is the first poem on nature in the springtime.
 

When Crocus Blooms

Swollen with warm air
From the exhaling breath of the earth,
Couldn't resist.
At last, bursting tender smiles
To the smiling sun
Between bare tree branches.

Before vapors crystallize to form dew,
Before robins hop with joy,
The faces with a fine complexion
Full of tender soft smiles
Standing in the sunny spot
Between tan ugly mulch shreds
On the slope below the rock
On a cold late winter day.

A nature lover anxious to encounter
Couldn't help bending over
To leer at, and then observe.
His heart swells with gaiety and jocundity
When he sees tiny delicate blossoms
Between tan ugly mulch shreds
On the slope below the rock
On a cold late winter day.

So exalted to see crocus blossoms
That have just opened,
The man does nothing but gazes with his heart pounding.


*The crocus is one of very an early blooming flower which sprouts from a bulb. From the ground  a slender stem shoots up to bear a tender looking pink or white flowers.
There are 80 species of crocus family, mainly centered in Mediterranean region.


1998

Jae Ro