Little Noticings on May First

A Poem by Linda Gelbrich

When I look out our windows
I barely see the sky. Spaces
between bare branches
are now filled with leaves. Trees
extend their lush growth
upward and outward, spread
the message of green
past the horizon.

I imagine their fortitude,
the hope, or just the discipline
to keep on doing
what they are called to do,
no matter what all the other voices
may tell them, no matter how dark
some days are, no matter
how weary they become.

I step outside to be closer
to the trees. I listen to birds
and want their notes
to be the news I hear today.
I watch the voracity of bumblebees
awkwardly pushing their large bodies
into the centers of rhododendron blossoms.

At this moment the wind is still.
Branches wait. A bird song
I’ve not heard before, rises lightly
then rests somewhere
over my head.