Spring Sensations

There, then, the unbearable burden
of miserable cold, icy blasts, ice fog
and snowstorms has departed
tucked away in winter's baggage
though on the forest floor icy remnants
yet challenge the unwary. Now, the
bearable ecstasy of warmth suffuses
the landscape and we inhale the
sweet fragrance of new life bursting
into spring. We foolishly yet hopefully
peer at the leaf-mold richness of
the revealed soil anticipating our
pleasure and surprise in glimpsing
the first of the trilliums, the violets
to exclaim our gratefulness at
Mourning Cloaks and skippers
flittering by illuminated by the sun
filtering through the unleafed forest
canopy, lighting the crimson flame
of a cardinal's flight pealing a paean.