Month: March 2016

THE SNOWS OF SPRINGTIME

Old Man Winter has lost his grip.

This March storm he has thrown at us

Is not an overpowering blizzard.

We watch the white blobs plopping off

The spruce arms.  Where the plow has passed

Pavements are black and bare and glistening.

We are not housebound.  We can dare

To venture out and do our errands.

The kids will build their snowmen, make

Snow angels, hurl snow missiles.

Sun will turn snowflakes into wine

For crocuses and daffodils to drink.

There goes a crow, casually high-stepping

Pausing to dip his beak into the ice cream.

AT THE GOAT FARM

It’s mud time in March and I am on my way

To pick up milk at the Jesta Farm

Where mother goats are kidding every day.

There’s mud on the farmyard driveway

Covered with hay.  The chickens prance

To meet me, clucking their querulous queries.

I warn them not to take a chance

On foraging under my car wheels.

Pungent odors assail my nose

As I slide open the door to the warm barn

And hear the bleats of nanny goats

Who fear their kids have come to harm.

I take my milk and head for home

Where ice no longer coats our pond.

NEIGHBORS

The house finches are back!  They

Did not wait for spring.

On February’s bitter days

They flitted insouciantly

In and out and about the

Prickly arms of my spruce tree,

Several of them for a while,

Last year’s nestlings perhaps,

Until an agreement was reached:

This year’s duo domiciled.

Meanwhile March has bustled in

With transient snow and wind.

Now that spring is in the air

They’re a happily settled pair.

DANCE TIME

There’s a time for Ring Around the Rosy,

Musical chairs and Farmer in the Dell,

And a time for jitterbug, electro-pop,

Disco, Eurobeat, New Wave as well.

And then we do the wedding march and waltz,

Virginia Reel and polka and all that

Or mambo, samba, tango, lindy et al.

Before the final shuffle with the walker.

So when the caller hails you to the dance floor

Kick up your heels and swing your partner round.

Promenade and bow and dos si dos.

Make the most of your time on the ground

Before the lights begin to turn down low,

The Exit sign above the door to glow.