today
for the first time
I felt the sap rising
and life sparking
not just in my faltering body
but everywhere around me

in the pale blue
windswept
seaward sky
of feathery clouds
aflight with life
like geese returning
impatient to be home
after winter
spent in foreign lands
away from our
boundless estuaries
slobs and bogs

in the trees
soft budding
per'aps too soon
as hard days
and nights
are not yet surely gone
flowers out
of season shyly bloom
and in the quiet
secreted corners of our land
the yearnings for companionship
do stir
 
and I for one
of many few
do yet
hear the call
within my aching bones
and feel the fury
of the soul
to fly once more
if not again
to slumber do
but hear the call
of life's full surge
yes yes yes
to stand alone
against the battering winds
to live as best I can
a mere and mortal man