Spring Harbingers

The robin upon the maple cries,

     “Tis spring.”

The crow which over the upland flies,

     “Tis spring.”

The boy with marbles within his hand

The man impatient to till his land,

     The medicine maker,

     The medicine taker,

              Proclaim

              “Tis spring.”

But not by these do I forsee

     ‘Tis spring.

By simpler methods ‘tis brought to me,

     ‘Tis spring.

By idly scanning the papers o’er

‘Tis told in a thousand ways or more

     For poets and jokers

     And the cartoon crokers

     Have long proclaimed

              “Tis spring.”

Dec. 27, ‘96

Pub. in B. Courier,

April 18, ‘97