Too late in the game
to change my life
to something that my parents
might have spoken of
with pride and anyway
they're both beyond
such fripperies
busy exploring
I would hope
quite other worlds
than those already known
to us cave dwellers
we who are enchanted still
by shadows
flickering along the wall
we see
as John would have it
but a dark reflection

Yet for all we fail to open
these blindfolded eyes
the spring's exhuberance
breaks through our best defences
just this week the onslaught
of madrone blossoms
caught us by surprise
all over town and on
the hills above
pale waxen clusters
dropped their load
littered the ground with pearls
perfumed the night air
with their overpowering sweetness

Like the magician
that she is
this month of April
has been pulling from her hat
surprises one after another
so much more
than we could choose
to brush aside or hide from
blossoms, colors, fragrances
squirrels chattering
birds courting it's
a show that brings
to mind the songs
we learned when we
were young and new to love
and blood pulsed madly
through our veins
with every spring's arrival
seems that some things
though not many
scarcely change