The early morning sunlight
slips past my shadow.
The woods are alive with the sounds of spring,
flowers breathing in the new sun, and
leaves drinking in the dew.
Earthworms are busy chewing soil.
Woodpeckers exult in their exquisite precision.
White rabbits scamper in and out of their burrows.
I walk between the drowsy trees,
shaking sleep out of their branches and
digging deep into the softened earth.
The does romp in the dappled shadows.
A sleepy bear yawns while her cubs snuggle beside.
A cool breeze is breathing down the branches.
How happy the world seems!
Waking up from the frost
of winter past.
So why this tightening of heart?
Why this narrowing of eyes?
Why this halting of hope?
Answers do not follow questions,
neither does past precede present
in this world made by women.
Time walks past me, robbing me of everything
that a surprised winter promised for the coming spring.