Marching Into Spring, 2009

Marching Into Spring

March arrived gloomily
icy-winded and bad-tempered
acting the lion
eschewing the lamb
still grumpy
this first day of Spring.

The snowpack has begun
its long melt
the streets finally clear
little girls out
skipping rope. Where
the gardens have
struggled free
there - and there see them?
the red probes of new life.

Canada geese have launched
themselves back into
their reversal. Great
honking vees
flinging themselves northward.
Gulls are back, skimming
the lakes and rivers.

So too are the red-winged blackbirds
clinging to rushes
singing their praise
of the near future's warmth.
In the ravine the snow shrinks
and glaciers broaden
in the recalcitrant iciness
of this March Spring.

Squirrels are newly
energized loopily chasing
one another in exuberant
matches and anxious nest-building.
Three robins - count them
one female, two males. She
sits serenely waiting

the outcome of her suitors'
spring-launched disagreement.

c. 2009 Rita Rosenfeld