Unfolding Spring

In the urban forest the barred owl's call
pulsates deeply through the woods.
The pileated woodpecker's wild mocking
cry syncopates shrilly through those
same woods. The creek is temporary host
to a pair of passing Mallards. Overnight,
trilliums have raised themselves out of the
dark, damp soil, floral head nodding,
not yet open. And ferns begin
steadily unfurling green plumes.

Out on a country road a cloud of
starlings in meticulous synchrony rise,
turn, swirl and mist themselves into
the distance. Vultures swoop lazily
on the wind, over farmed fields stubbly
with last year's straw-yellow remains.
Over the landscape, a pale green furze
appears as trees aspire to mantle
themselves. In ponds and creeks,
returning geese stream, settle, forage.

Marshy wetlands ring with the cries
of red-winged blackbirds, sitting atop
last year's stiff grasses and rushes.
Granite outcroppings of the Canadian
Shield; grey, layered, serrated, lend
mute majesty to cedars and junipers.
Old cedar snake fences undulate along
the edges of public roadways, circling
venerable homestead memories.

Wild buckthorn, oak and elm struggle
back to green life. Gnarled, wide-spread
willows, yellow with rising sap's nudge
to growth lend colour to the drab
monochromatic grey-brown-black spring
scheme. Green-sided barns with red metallic
roofs emit cattle to browse dun fields.
Silver silos toss back the glinting sun.
Newly-plowed fields, dark, damp and
deeply furrowed await further instruction.

Orange butterflies and black, white-
striped mourning cloaks float gently
through the wind-swept landscape.
Clouds assemble in long sweeps to
obscure the sun, its rays still stubbornly
warming the atmosphere. A great blue
heron rises, glides head outthrust,
feet dangling, to the nearest waterway.

Duckweed begins its minuscule assembly
in receptive ponds. Snakes emerge to
warm their cold reptilian hearts on
sub-baked rocks. Warblers, flycatchers
and robins sing in praise of seasonal
change. Dragonflies, bodies of luminous
blue, red and green, whirr through the air.