There I was

cliffside

and crazy

alone with that strange

bird who tricked

me into eating

the poison berry that made me laugh

so long and mean I might have died

when I saw you

coming toward me,

laughing so wild I

should have scared

you

away -

and how did you know

your kiss

could stop time and tides and tricks

just like a web spun

at the break of day?

                                It is this way ~

We take the less travelled path today,

the dogs and I,

and there,

suddenly,

from dead leaves

beside the trail

in full bloom

springs this first

slipper

of the season.

These lilacs, he says,

are the color of her eyes

the day we wed,

the color of her eyes

the day she died.

These lilacs,

blooming on the bush

he grew from that shoot

cut from the roots

of her own father's

garden,

transplanted

to the home they

made

for fifty springs.

For you

these spring violets

bloom

along the path

this last day of April,

day of remembrance.

What I know now is this -

you lived long enough to find me

you lived long enough to love.

Spring comes in blues and greens 

with the dogs running

and the mud drying

and the trees budding

and the birds singing