Spring Peepers Singing

SPRING PEEPERS SINGING

So many long months passed and the nights
Were silent, frozen white and cold.
Today the sun has smiled upon the earth
And given us the smell of damp and soggy ground.
And now tonight there comes another birth
From the trees that edge the pond we hear a sound
Piercing like a whistle or a call a bird might
Make, if it could trill a note so sharp and high
And not just one but soon a chorus as the night
Darkens, the mist drifts downward and the sky
Behind the trees is speckled with stars. The trees
With their bare branches hold the singers of the song
Which strengthens and reverberates until we find
Ourselves encircled in the middle of a throng
Of ancient singers who through the ages charmed
Away the spell of ice and cold and welcomed the return
Of liquid, flowing water, the release, unharmed
Of those who spent the frozen hours in slumber deep
This wake-up song, these joyous notes to end their sleep.