Buds, Buds Everywhere

Mama cow licks calf--
"Get it over with quick, Mom."
Patience yet to come.

Basset hound howling
Raises his shouts to the sky,
The still, clear, blue sky.

The shy woodpecker
Sits silently on the trunk
Then whispers away.









Buds, buds everywhere
Green and yellow and swelling;
Licked by the sunshine.









Very last snow bank
Stands next to the fenced in woods,
Mottled gray and filthy.









Hollow knock, knock, knock
Followed by gentle cooing;
Sounds of the forest.

Pale soft mullein leaves
Emerge as if from nowhere;
Were they under snow?

The stark white birch tree
Yet whiter in the bright sun,
Almost as blinding.