Harshness Gone

Buds on the upward-straining branches of a magnolia tree

Magnolia buds

Threshold of Spring
by Rainer Maria Rilke

Harshness gone.  All at once caring spreads over
the naked gray of the meadows.
Tiny rivulets sing in different voices.
A softness, as if from everywhere,

is touching the earth.
Paths appear across the land and beckon.
Surprised once again you sense
its coming in the empty tree.