Cloud Dreams

If

I could fly

and stretch out

on clouds

that look softer

than any earthly

pillow

perhaps

I would

rest

my mind

quiet

because all around me

is quiet

Or maybe

I'd look up at stars

brighter and closer

and dream

with eyes open

Birdsong before dawn

Before the dawn
even
before spring
you wake me
with your
cacophonous 
conversation
high and low
staccato
then slow
the call that trills up
like a slide whistle
the rounded one note
of the dove
Far west
on the lake
geese are calling
at the seam
of the eastern horizon
the sun awakes

Before Budding

Winter stripped us

revealing

our inner tangles

the neglected heart

and bare roots

Now

all that confusion

can breathe

light gets through

turning dust motes

to gold

We can untangle it

or own it

clothe it in new green

and flowers

Breathe

Perhaps

Spring

and Lady Sun

just 

needed 

to breathe deeply

and hold in

quiet

A pause

in the heated pace

of 

a million leaves

unfolding

still

in the green

hum

of everything

waking

growing

Breathe in

a cold morning's rain

breathe out

afternoon's

brisk 

hide and seek

of clouds

Like Winter Creatures

Why

do we live by the clock,

Lady Sun?

Why

do we live by the calendar?

Would

the waiting be as long

without

our human-designed

timetable?

Would night

and winter

seem so 

dark

and endless?

Or

like winter creatures

would we curl 

tighter

and sleep 

deeper

or ruffle

our winter defenses

against the wind

and be?

Not Unimaginable

Maybe

February

finds you

smashed flat

and tired

as the snow

beneath

your spinning wheels

or buried

in ill-used

tissues

as I am

or struggling

to protect all you own

from the elements

like my soon-to-be-former

neighbors

Maybe you've

escaped

to the ocean

or just

into a good book

maybe you're despairing

another day of cold

and gray

or out snow shoeing 

or running

breathing sharp air

that turns your blood

to holy fire

We are all blessed

friends

We are all 

alive

and winter is, too,

and spring,

still distant

perhaps

but not

unimaginable

Coexistence

Winter

bedazzles

bare branches

and Lady Sun

sets them ablaze

fire

and ice

in fragile

coexistence