GERMINAL

Sunrise
lifts a fog
of gnats.

Gulls
whitecap
the calm lake.

Shoots and earthworms
open the soil.
Bears' eyes,
ladybugs' wings
open for business,
opus mundi.

Thaw
           bud
                      nest
all at once,
flow
          bloom
                      hatch
all at once,
flood
          seed 
                      fledge
all at once,
smooth the cracked pavement,
         clear away the ice-felled branches,
                      scrub the mud tracked over tracked mud,
but first

Oh to be
now
and 
see,

O all that returns.