RIVERWOODS/TAMWORTH POEMS: SIGNS OF SPRINGL

SIGNS OF SPRING

(with thanks to e e cummings)

Ice-melt upstream is roiling up the river

That foams and funnels under the village bridge.

Two feet of ice on Lake Winnepesaukee

Is starting to give way at the water’s edge.

Last week I heard the “cuckoo” of a phoebe

And tree frogs seeking mates with choral peeps

Along with “quarking” lately de-iced wood frogs

And redwinged blackbirds buzzing in the reeds.

Indeed it is Just spring.  I also hear

The sound of children laughing in the playground,

And listening with an attentive inner ear

The goat-footed balloon man calling me.