Herald

Raise high the standard of spring!

Hold up the budded boughs,

As you stride through greening woods,

Your skirts lifted from a gold leaf floor.

See, dancing birds follow in your train,

While others circle overhead.

Hear grateful brooks herald your coming

And frogs sing a chorus of praise.

As you pass,

Bare branches still too proud to bow

Know that spring’s sap will soon

Force them, clothed, to their knees.

So, lift high the standard!

Winter, lay down your frosted arms,

And earth, yield again with joy,

That all might see and

sighing

surrender.

Rachael Barham,

Friday 1^st May 2009,

Chickadee Lodge, St John River, New Brunswick.