Winter into Spring A poem by Lynn Ungar

The trees, along their bare limbs,
Contemplating green.
A flicker, rising, flashes rust and white
Before vanishing into stillness,
And raked leaves crumble imperceptibly
Into dirt.

On all sides life opens and closes
Around you like a mouth.
Will you pretend you are not
Caught between its teeth?

The kestrel in its swift dive
And the mouse below,
The snake waiting in the grass,
And the unsuspecting frog,
The first green shoots that
Will not wait for spring
Are a language constantly forming.

Quiet your pride and listen.
There—beneath the rainfall
And the ravens calling you can hear it–
The great tongue constantly enunciating
Something that rings through the world
As Grace.