Oh, blessed season, spring and summer’s brink

Inlaid twixt frozen hell and sweltering stink;

Time to flee the grey city’s human clutter,

Pensive strolling in solitude utter.

*

In garden suburbs, fit for families to grow,

A park, neat and pretty, in Scarborough North

Where a little stream gurgles, winding forth

‘Neath umbrellas of billowing willow,

Where ducks dive amongst stands of man-high reed,

Place where ‘twer  planned many a crazy deed.

Here, in this unwitting monastery,

Catalogue a year’s triumph and folly.

*

Arranged high upon the manicured bank

Crabapple and pear stand in serried rank

Open floral salute in white and pink;

Their cheerful petals on the warm breeze ride,

Paint pastel dots ‘pon the emerald ground.

Oh, ersatz hanami, quaint and sublime!