Shortly, Spring

Today, a brightness has overtaken

the grim wintry gray we suffer here,

in the shadow of the great lakes.

Our walkways are still patched

with the grease of black ice, that

makes walking a test of uprightness.

But, in the fence corner, at the edge

of my small land, I listen to the

trickle of freed water as it slides

off the edge of an old shed roof,

and speaks eloquently of the spring.