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.