Lyrics

there was a faint suggestion
in the subtle soft array
as sunlight played upon the garden
bringing springtime.

snowmelt urged the fertile earth,
the flying forth, the subtle burst,
the mating dance beginning
its beginning.

treading softly in the garden,
i could sense a fresh vibration
as the greening stretched from slumber,
brave but wary.

nibbling down the wildlife path,
a deer encroaching on the grass
implied improvements i had made
were temporary.

now i sensed there was an ambush
in the tangle of the weeds,
where the vines and dandelions
were conspiring.

i glimpsed a snake awakening,
luxuriating, undulating,
gliding through the growth
that grew around me.

as I was lying in the grass
and later lying in the house,
i understood what winter's mask
had hidden:

my stubborn clinging to what was,
avoidance of the obvious;
an old but dear embattlement
required revision.

old designs were rearranged,
ancient architecture changed;
brambled weeds and reaching vines made
their advances,

and i hunkered down for summer,
feeling nature take her course
in my reduced but more familiar
circumstances.