PRIMAL PASSIONS

Stark and leafless branches,

Festooned with buds of spring,

While robins dot the greening fields,

And unseen crickets sing;

Evergreen branches dripping ice,

Bright droplets melting snow,

While rivers crest their muddy banks

And tributaries flow;

Up above the timberline,

Granite boulders shed fresh sand,

That’s carried by the snowmelt

To create new spits of land;

Spring’s elixir swells the branches

Of sapling sprigs and shrubs,

While momma bear slips her winter den

To immerge with wrestling cubs;

Crocus struggling toward the light

Through dwindling drifts of snow,

While delighted children send up kites

As balmy breezes blow;

The sigh of old growth evergreens,

As evening breezes shift,

Trout feeding at the sparkling edge

Of an ice flow’s lazy drift;

The roaring of a waterfall

As rainbow mists drift by,

The primordial cry of eagles

And their circles in the sky;

All God’s creatures great and small

Shaking winter’s chills,

While meadows, lifeless days ago,

Erupt in daffodils;

Each one emblematic

Of a fresh, inviting spring,

Alive with opportunities

And all the hope they bring;

And at last the call of northbound geese,

Impervious and free,

Arousing primal passions,

Stirring souls and calling me.

SC