Bright Awakening

As the annual miracle of spring
proceeds with lengthening daylight
hours, brilliant sunshine leaping
through the windows of our house,
our winter-languishing, pampered
little dogs resonate with re-awakening.

They imperiously insist we be
roused from still-deep sleep to
ourselves respond with joyous
welcome to this change in our
weather fortunes, an event that so
enlivens and exquisitely enhances
the lives of all animate creatures.

Through layers of snow and ice
not yet completely receded, the news
of a brightly-heralded seasonal change
has been communicated well to the
residents of our garden soil, as they
hesitantly lift green shoots and
bravely assert an early presence.

A flashpoint for our own delight in
a season returning, our existence
suddenly takes on fresh, dewy-new
dimensions, senses quickening to the
early-morning songs of purple finches,
cardinals, joyful chickadees, surrendering
themselves to a paroxysm of pure
unadulterated pleasure of life.