In the Garden of the Red Priest
(Vivaldi's Spring Sonnet)

Spring arrives in exultation;
small birds greet her with song
and the brooks, kissed by the breath of Zephyr,
flow and murmur in sweet response.

Dark clouds appear,
announced by lightning and the
reverberation of thunder.
The sky is shrouded in black.

At last, sweet silence
broken by birdsong;
the meadow replies
in a dulcet rustle of leaves and grass.

The goatherd sleeps with
trusted dog by his side;
Nymphs and Shepherds

dance in delight,
led by by the drone of
a double reed pipe
Such is the rejoicing
at the radiant arrival
of Spring.


(Image: Georgia O'Keefe, Red Canna)