The ospreys came back early

The year's first osprey came winging back home on a grey Saturday morning.

Snow-covered, the land seemed to me

Inhospitable

But the ice on the river is soft

And the water is running eagerly beneath it, murmuring

Welcome home, welcome home, welcome home!

My heart is snow-covered too

And the branches that wait in the grey sky are bare

But the ice on the river is soft

And the water is running eagerly beneath it.

Evensong

A song for the soup, and the spoon in the soup,
Warming cold bones at the close of the day.
A song for the bed, and the one in the bed,
That are pressed close together like bare feet and clay.
A song for the dark, and the bulbs in the dark,
That have tucked all their brightness away.
A song for the cheek and the neck and the kiss
And the clothes on the floor at the close of the day.