Cheer up, it won’t be long.
Cheer up, it’s coming soon.
The robins are here.
The red wing blackbirds are here.
Now the snow is falling again this afternoon
On top of the snow yesterday morning
On top of the heavy snow the day before that
On top of the packed frozen crust.
We went for a walk this morning
To the only cleared walkway in a park
And saw the flock of robins in the tree
And on the snow eating the fruit.
Seeing them I imagined their spring song:
Cheer-it-up, cheer-it-up.
Then you saw the red wing blackbird
A sure harbinger of early spring.
Then we saw them everywhere
Red wing blackbirds moving through
Perhaps pushed north by the advancing storm:
Five weeks more to the equinox.
