The Beautiful Music of Spring!

I have good news, folks!  I heard the first frogs of the season a few days ago!  Since then I have spied robins in the sunshine and buds on the trees.  This calls for celebration!  Below is a poem I wrote about this magical time of the year (which also happens to be my favorite).  I have another poem my brain is trying to organize.  I hope that I can share that poem with you very soon.  In the meantime, let us all say a prayer of thanksgiving for the wonderful buds of spring!

“Music in Spring”

Spring starts slowly in the Northwest,

like the winding up of a dusty victrola
long forgotten in an attic that groans
and slowly gains motion and finally music
crackles and catches and then smooths out.

You might first notice it in the morning air. 

A change in texture and smell.  What is it? 
Thawed earth?  New leaves?  New volume
in the air?  Snow-muffled quiet
traded for bird song and breeze.

Open your window as you drive the streets.

Windows shut up now open a bit, then more,
and before long there’s music
blaring from his car to yours
and heads are bobbing in your rearview.

You might laugh, but three blocks down

you’re at it, too, your voice mingled
with the radio and fingers tapping.
Everywhere is song and motion
and teens in fast cars checking each other out.

At home, in the woods, red-winged blackbirds

signal the wakening, then the Stellar blue jays
bicker in the trees.  And I say, “Shhhh… Do you hear that?
The frogs.  They’ve thawed.”  One at first, then tomorrow
it’s two.  By Friday the night is punctuated.

And I can’t help but stand, sock-footed and still –

the scent of mud and dripping rain
mingle with frog melodies and pine;
the chorus is caught, and doubles on itself –
on my deck, in the dark, the symphony rises.