In the Beginning

Tentative tortoise-shell calico cat
picks her cautious, wary way
on tender six-toed pad
along the land awash with wet and warmth:

Matted lawns of limpid leaves and
woven flattened grasses
blanket lost limbs from backyard willow,
forgotten garden's mushy pumpkin husk,
our sodden, scarlet Christmas bow.

This is savage Earth
awakened,
turning slowly over
onto rich, black silk of soil bed.

Cat shivers, crouching carefully close
to awning icicle’s retreating reach.
Her roughened tongue meets each
drip
drop
drip...
a rhythmic, dancing dissolution of ice;
the brilliant taste of equinox.

Next to her, a tiny living curl
backbends limber self:
this leafy crayon called spring green
is more than buried bulb
had ever dreamed
before.

Cat, yawning deep in breeze
and chirp
and buzz,
hears snowmelt whisper
and adds her own purring promise
of summer to come.