By Carolyn Pinet
They're back -
I just looked, saw a tail feather
sticking out of the nest
and thought, "There go the robins,
indefatigable, cockeyed optimists."
They knew that spot by the back door was,
to put it mildly, iffy,
but here they are, another heady spring,
and drunk on hormones - do birds
have hormones? - but,
undaunted by the lessons of the past,
they have built yet another nest,
the female has laid her eggs,
and they await the hatch.
What is it about the Montana spring?
Even the elders among us
feel jaunty and restless
despite dire warnings, troubled times.
Is it that we have learned nothing so
are doomed to repeat our missteps.
or is it that, like the robins,
we are wildly disposed
to start over, flit about,
inhale the redolent blossoms
and to love this world?
(Happy Spring?)