The Return of the Purple Martins

My neighbor has three houses, and

Martins arrive well before spring arrives

To give me hope that surely spring will come, and

That this winter’s damp cold will give way,

Yield to the warming and florid embrace of spring.

I am lifted up by

The martins’ flying,

Curving in space leaving their house,

Slanting on the warming air coming home.

They have no song, but two cries--

One raucous martin cry

Quarreling over nesting  rooms, and another--

A garbling gravelly chattering bird harangue

Saying that they are happy to be alive.

--February 13, 2013