A Poem About Spring

(from Within My Illusions)

The birds are chattering outside my window again.

A hundred thousand shades of green paint the canyon
against a cloud-gray background.

Signs of life emerging by the minute
And I had been burrowed so deep
I didn’t see the red, red, redbuds budding.
Now their branches are full flower.

Now mountain laurel’s luscious purple blossoms
droop like bunches of grapes and smell as sweet.

Can I savor their fragrance before it becomes ordinary?
Before youth gives way to maturity?

I am not surprised by the first butterfly
that lands in my garden,
but I had forgotten about the bluebonnets.

It was the daisy that reminded me:
Beauty lies dormant beneath
the crusty surface of winter.