Spring poem..

Tangle Of Trees, Bursting With Leaves... Spring 09'

For those of us who love bears AND springtime...

"spring" - by mary oliver

Somewhere

a black bear

has just risen

from sleep

and is racing

down the

mountain.

all night

in the bristk

and shallow

restlessness

of early

spring

I think of her

her four black

fists

flicking the gravel

her tongue

like a red fire

touching the

grass,

the cold

water.

There is only

one question:

how to love

this world.

I think of her

rising

like a black

and leafy

ledge

to sharpen

her claws

against

the silence

of the trees.

Whatever

else

my life is

with its

poems

and its music

and its glass

cities,

it is also this

dazzling

darkness

coming

down the

mountain

breathing and

tasting;

all day I think

of her-

her white

teeth,

her wordlessness,

her perfect

love.