Walk with me
beneath the bud-tipped spruce –
we’ll lift our hands to collect
the crows’ bewildered calls,
still hoarse
with the memory of
recent snow.
We’ll bend to sip sweet rain
from crocuses and watch
the ferns’ fronds slow unfurling.
Inhale, with me, the lilacs’ promise.
While Mourning Cloaks –
clad in lush dark velvet –
flit and glide about us,
we’ll decipher their
orphic patterns.
For a moment,
we’ll remember;
for a moment,
we’ll forget.
— C.Birde, 4/17
Trillium waited
in the garden’s corner.
She smoothed the rain from her brow,
shook out her frock,
and —
in her own time,
in her own fashion —
joined
the
dance.
— C.Birde, 4/17
Stop,
listen –
don’t insist she
shout for your
attention.
You are one.
Her vast rivers flow
through your constricted veins;
Her mountains comprise
your bones,
grown porous;
Her forests guide
your too-shallow breath;
Those wild and untamed places
that reside in your
diminished
heart,
are hers.
Don’t make her shout —
when her mouth is full
of flowers
and her breath
perfumed,
when her touch is
a caress
of budding green.
Bend your ear to hear
her song issue
from the messenger
throats of birds.
Place your feet in her steps,
against her heart’s
steadying beat.
Cherish and protect her.
Remember yourself.
Revive and awaken.
Do not insist
she shout.
— C.Birde, 4/17
Giddy Spring,
when all Nature
conspires
in song,
and courtship,
and joined, jubilant
SHOUT!
— C.Birde, 4/17
Spears of forsythia throwing light,
Daffodils’ heraldic shout.
Canaries and warblers
and precious metal finches —
melodic color caught in song.
Bellies and fevers,
jaundice and joy.
Color of yield signs, double lines,
#2 pencils and school buses;
of taxis and Playbills,
raincoats and wellingtons.
Bright topaz and citrine and
slow-trapping amber.
Too-short hectic flash
of sulphurs and swallowtails.
Industrious bees, pollen, and honey.
Primary – and companion –
color of Spring.
Color of teapots and lemons,
beaten eggs, butter, and cake.
Color of zinc paint,
slope-shouldered haystacks,
of sunflowers
and skewwhiff bedrooms.
Bold, pouring sunshine
and pre-wish dandelions.
Dilute color of stars and moons
and soft candlelight;
of delight and wonder.
Yellow.
— C.Birde, 4/17
Rain drips from
Beech and Oak,
Hickory and Maple;
patters and splashes
against the creek’s
swollen back;
Frogs join in
hiccuped song.
Loveletters
to
A
p
r
i
l.
— C.Birde,4/17
Drip and patter.
Distant thunder’s purr.
Birds’ persistent song
and chatter scrawled
over inverted,
cloud-drawn sky.
Spring Reign.
— C.Birde, 3/17
Softly,
softly,
the mist descends —
coils,
enfolds.
Veil of furred-moisture.
The world at large
slips
from sharp-edged
focus.
Hills to be climbed
are reduced to
dream;
Trees to
breath
suspended.
— C.Birde, 3/17
Spring’s light veiled in Winter clouds,
and birds’ songs dovetail —
Redwing Blackbirds transitioning
with Slate-colored Juncos.
— C.Birde, 3/17
She stands in snow,
toes encouraging
new green
growth.
Dash or linger —
she is undecided,
and casts
a glance
over her shoulder.
The lion’s roar is
caught
in her hair.
In one hand she holds
a small suitcase;
in the other,
a bouquet of feral
blooms.
We hold our breath —
She bends to open,
at last, the case;
and releases
Vernal
light.
— C.Birde, 3/17