Wake to the sound
of water running down.
Ice melting,
sun warm and inviting.
Nothing left
of winter’s long affliction,
but the little bit of ice
on the rooftops.
Open up the eyes.
Sun is shining
for what feels like
the first time
in a lifetime.
Tempting us
up and out of bed,
like our mother’s voice,
or the smell of baking bread
wakes the memories in our heads.
Something warm
invites us
to dream in daylight
and hope what we thought
not but morbid shadows cast
only last week,
or even yesterday.
Snow melts,
revealing the ground
where we will plan our future,
raise our young,
and plant our culture.
Sky hides nothing.
All her secrets
blue for the scrying.
Soon she will send clouds.
Days of rain will seem welcoming
to seeds and saplings.
Hopes and dreams,
Protected from the screens.
Sheltered from obscene memes,
because there are still things
that need
to be pure.
Water from the sky,
light in our eyes,
on this golden morning.
Still surprised
how much joy
these days bring.
Birds singing,
“We’re alive!”
DJR – 2023
