Carrying On

The prolonged shuddering booms
of thunder that disrupted early
morning sleep have long abated
leaving the atmospheric theatre
to torrents of rain washing away
this winter's worth of detritus
while returning birds perch on
feeders in a restoration of spring's
promise and soon bulbs of daffodils
crocuses and tulips freed from 
their soil-bound deep-freeze
will signal the garden's return to
life. On the street, now freed of
ice and snow and under the teeming
downpour, an elderly slip of a
woman pushes her walker, slowly
deliberately in measured cadence
her husband hovering alongside
umbrella aloft, shielding his charge.