This Landscape

Gone the pewter, snow-billowing
sky of stubborn days' duration
succumbing finally to a pure
and shining blue uninterrupted
by clouds, sun ascendant and blazing.

Overhead, crows coast and caw.
Woodland trees no longer gaily
sporting winter coats; bare now,
damply dark and raw. In their

branches, chickadees, nuthatches
and drumming downy woodpeckers,
aware all, that spring is on the near
horizon of timely seasonal arrival.

The snow-packed ground is well
littered with brittle branches,
tightly-fisted fall leaves and countless
twigs teased off their perches by
high blowing winds, soughing
through the swinging tree tops.

Mild weather and the brilliant
sun in concert melt snow new and
old, sending rivulets of meltwater
resolutely downhill, seeking

release, joining in a great, muddy
stream unleashed and madly
roiling toward the welcoming
river well beyond this landscape.