(Is This Time for Real?)

Spring comes so slowly

With no bursts of verdant green--

All in the waiting.

Spots in the bushes--

Birds are waiting for their turn

To fly to feeder.

Collette is watching

Rozabelle walking on stilts;

("These humans are nuts.")

Two geese at the pond,

One standing and on sitting--

Both still as water.

Dead leaves are still dead;

No resurrection has come;

Buds are still waiting.

Robins on the fence

Their beaks upraised in bird pride.

Then they fly away.

Dandelion light

Shines again from the roadside.

(Is this time for real?)

Only at the top

Does the fir tree have needles;

Below? Long bare trunk.

Circle of sawdust; 

But there's not tree that shed it;

(Where did it come from?)

Mourning Dove Coos

It's almost freezing;

Thermometer gives advice

(But just a measure).

The brighter the sun,

The dirtier my window.

(No transparency).

What is their secret:

These silent, peaceful bovines

Always meditating?

Pale moon over tree

Fades in the light of the day;

Mourning dove coos.

Dead leaves lie on moss 

While the stream runs underneath--

Shadows fall throughout.

Rocks, moss and shadows;

Cooing of a mourning dove;

A soft Spring morning.

Mabel and Gilda

Barking a happy hello

Lose interest and leave.

Like a Baby Born

With her arms folded

Walker passes by bushes

Like a faint shadow. 

Morning air is pink;

Pink the bushes and branches

Like a baby born.

They're never angry

These two old bovine comrades

Exchanging a kiss.

It's done its job--

Queen Anne's Lace has spread its seeds;

Now the husk remains.

Beginning to bud

Bush gives birth to green sprouts

That glow in the sun.

Growing in the woods

With no human involvement:

The first springtime chives.

Faint rat a tat tat

Then woodpecker goes silent.

(He knows I'm listening.)

Standing on a mound

A small grove of new trees stand:

Evergreen saplings.

Shrieking its Whiteness

Shadows on my barn

Etch across the wooden planks.

Birds hop on feeder. 

Through forsythia

Walker passes as shadow

Melting in bushes.

Collette chews her cud

As Olivia stands by--

Study--resting cows.

Rudely awakened

Mabel checks the sounds of chickens

Clucking shamelessly.

A single bird's tweet

Rings out high above the tree;

Single tweet responds.

Green tennis ball sits

Surrounded by still shadows--

All rackets have gone.

Up the gentle hill

An old couple jogs their steps

Panting in the sun.

Through the dark forest

Evergreen glows in the light:

Magic of the sun!

Shrieking its whiteness

Birch tree holds up its own "V".

(There is none whiter).

                                                              From walk of March 26, 2016