It’s a 10 candle power morning
This faint first light of dawn when the robins start to sing
Spring is coming to the North Country
Down South the cherry blossoms have already come and gone
As Spring takes its slow time up here
A first sighting of daffodils on the road in Franconia
This morning the woodcocks circling flight
Stops us on the road
To watch their mating game
How quickly the days turn and turn back
Three eighty-degree days of summer
Followed by a return to freezing this week
The surprise of a snow squall on the trail
Winter not done with us yet
No, not before one last ski, one of the best of the season
But last week I declared an end of winter and took my skis out of the car
Loaded in my new gravel bike
As the neighbors bring their shiny summer car out of storage
The hills are turning from purple to red
A bright green growing each day
On the lawn across the street
I run to spring, long for it
As peepers slow me to a stop
To listen to their happy song
Meanwhile the withered brown oak leaves
Still cling to the branches outside my window
As they have all winter
Despite last night’s windstorm and rain,
Last weekend’s snow
Tenacious leaves still holding to fall
I awake to birdsong
Dreams dissipating as snow melts to grey fog
Drifts up the hills at the far edge of town.
Navigating Through Change 