Salamander Rain

These warm, rainy nights of young spring,
salamanders begin crossing the road to water
and woods not so far away but
a dangerous journey, and I with flashlight
play Virgil taking them to a Paradiso.

For years, I have volunteered for the endangered species program in New Jersey, so I have seen the amphibians – endangered, threatened, or just in danger – crossing locally to vernal pools of water. Dangerous road crossings. See some salamander rain video and more info at endangerednj.blogspot.com
Seeing myself as Dante’s Virgil guide and my local woods as a paradiso may be a bit of poetic license but…

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Last Year’s Words

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.”
T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding” from Four Quartets

Fresh snow like a fresh page unwritten.
New words like new growth under snow.
Though some plants will be old ones
reinvigorated, as with some of my words –
new, but with old roots, ground-breaking blooms.

Photo by Jimmy Chan

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Snow Fog Trees

In the fog, the bare trees look
like they are lightly covered with snow.
This early morning walk in early April
is chilling cold reminding me that spring
is still more of a suggestion today.

Crystallizing

I only have to travel a few hours north of home to still find the early morning hours between midnight and sunrise to be more like winter than spring despite what the calendar tells me.

This morning, further north, but still spring,
there were ice crystals on the rocks.

It doesn’t take much change to make
things look different from the recent past.

The future – one or two seasons away?