I noticed the small bloom late last week, a buttercup yellow flower called winter aconite. Though I’ve spotted crocus and snowdrops in other yards, this was the first one in ours.

But by yesterday, it was gone.

The early flowers are shy, low to the ground, tender of stem.  They are also fleeting, as is all spring beauty.

They are like sculptures made of sand, sunsets made of shifting light and clouds. They remind us to look deeply at first glance.

(No pictures of winter aconite; these crocus will have to do.)