The Messenger

This is the nature we adore. That
gentler, nurturing, creative aspect
and not the capricious, indifferent
creator who devised an original
blueprint for existence then left her 
creations to fend for themselves
against the predatory pathogens she
also created as part of her ineffable
kingdom of multitudinous lifeforms
many she abandons to a brief fate
others she idly observes insisting on 
surviving using the very tools she
invested in them, varying from one 
creature to another, but all, each and 
every one interrelated and mutually
benefiting despite sacrifices beyond
their capacity to escape. Gentle nature 
graciously offers symbols of rebirth 
and hope, in the first spears of plants 
probing their presence out of the thawed 
soil in winter's hoary wake and the 
ethereal trilling of a cardinal exuberantly 
informing the world that yes, winter 
has finally departed and spring arrived.