<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-size: 20px;" class="">The Inside Chance</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; min-height: 24px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">Dance like a jackrabbit</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">in the dunegrass, dance</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">not for release, no</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">the ice holds hard but</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">for the promise. Yesterday</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">the chickadeees sang <i class="">fever,</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">fever,</i> the mating song.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">You can still cross ponds</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">leaving tracks in the snow</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">over the sleeping fish</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">but in the marsh the red</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">maples look red</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">again, their buds swelling.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">Just one week ago a blizzard</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">roared for two days.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">Ice weeps in the road.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">Yet spring hides</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">in the snow. On the south</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">wall of the house</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">the first sharp crown</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">of crocus sticks out.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">Spring lurks inside the hard</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">casing, and the bud</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">begins to crack. What seems</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">dead pares its hunger</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">sharp and stirs groaning.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">If we have not stopped</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">wanting in the long dark,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">we will grasp our desires</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">soon by the nape.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">Inside the fallen brown</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">apple the seed is alive.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">Freeze and thaw, freeze</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">and thaw, the sap leaps</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">in the maple under the bark</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">and although they have</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">pronounced us dead, we</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">rise again invisibly,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">we rise and the sun sings</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">in us sweet and smoky</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">as the blood of the maple</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">that will soon open its leaves</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class="">like thousands of waving hands.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; min-height: 24px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal;" class=""> <b class=""> </b><b style="font-style: italic;" class="">- </b><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">Marge Piercy</span></div></div></body></html>