In the Spring Author:David Beard From the foreword by editor Cindy M. Kelly: Gardeners work outside, and they re a little more observant of the ducks, the grinnies, the chipmunks, of every little bug, every groundhog, mole hole, night crawler. They know the weather better than anybody. They know that those who remain shut up inside watching television don t hear the birds come... more » back. Those without gardens never know that feeling of eavesdropping on the sparrows each year as they chat with their summer neighbors about the winter. They don t get to hear how delightful (tweet!) it was in Key West, or how breezy (chirp!) it was in the Dry Tortugas or all over the south. Those who stay inside never learn the mythology of the garden, the waiting that goes into a dahlia s bloom, the reward of planting the bulbs, the tubers. There are secrets, too, and the gardener knows that there are no such things as weeds that there are always mysteries growing right underfoot, things that were never intentionally planted. The garden: always in transition, always left undone, always something left over for the next day, when hands can dig deep, feel the black, moist earth, mix it with ash and the leaves from last year to feed this year s crop. Radishes planted by the light of the full moon, a great-grandmother s bluebells, lilies carefully transplanted from the side of an old, dirt road it all comes to an end when the frost comes. And when it comes, the gardener sits outside and waits, reveling in spending that one last cool night with the hibiscus, the stargazer lilies, the elephant ears, the caladium. These are the secrets revealed by David Beard s poems here. He takes us on a tour through his garden, and down its many paths. The tour is timeless his words lend us movement into summer, a wistfulness as fall comes to a close, a longing in the winter, and revelry in spring.« less