Behind the eastern mountain line
the sky glows deep red…
and lightens as earth,
the section I stand on,
turns toward the sun

the large white barn becomes roseate
the shrub branches a richer russet
for the brief time of sun rays parallel
to earth's surface

spring mornings on this hillside
are still frosty
while robins reiterate their songs
and starlings screech and chatter
at passing crows and blue jays,
boat-tailed grackles and
red-winged blackbirds mush through
the dregs of sunflower hulls looking
for one more kernel

chickadees fly through the space
where the feeder hung and land
surprised: where did it go,
that bounteous repast that sustained
through winter snows

the last snow lies in protected niches
near vernal pools where wood ducks rest and
mallards retreat through grass
from my watching presence

yesterday an old house just down the road burned
I watched for a while
firemen chopping holes through five layers of roofing
flames licking out the opening
this morning's paper said it was completely gutted

sickening words for the owner and her young son
also mourning the deaths of their cats and dogs
an old cape style house with knee walls
hidden spaces where fire likes to grow

perhaps started by a bucket of ashes sitting beside the stove

a simple thing to become
a catastrophe

one of my brothers is in hospital today
weakness in his left arm and leg several weeks ago
led to an MRI yesterday and discovery of a golf-ball sized tumor
in his head…sounds slightly less horrible than "brain tumor"...
the day after he sold fifty acres and finally had some
money beyond his social security check

he's my birth-date twin…thirteen years older than I
the farm brother whom I helped raise calves and take
care of cows, never married, never had money for medical
care until he reached the age of medicare

my never-married sister in having a cataract removed
this month blood-tested super-glucose diabetic
we knew that was a no-brainer
her favorite food has been ice cream three and more
times a day for years

the barn is shining white now
the bush back to normal brown-ness
the sun well up
the day's begun

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