<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span>Spring At My Toes On The Haul Roa</span><b>d</b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">I saw my first snake of the season</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">out walking with bright air along the ocean trail,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">searching for whale spouts</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">and answers to deep questions</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">but instead, here </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">at my feet, the long rope </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">of a slender shape</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">laid quiet and still, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">though slightly coiled,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">enough to quicken my heart</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">in the mystery of its presence. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And I knew, even as it wiggled into the grass</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">and disappeared</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">as if it never gave me its gift,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">that it did. As it has every year,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">when the snake shows herself to me, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">like the shock of sudden snowy plum blossoms-</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">spring is officially awakened</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">beneath my skin, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">quivering among longer days, longing to slide</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">my fingers into the mud.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">And I am reminded again</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">of the mystery of things, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">the cycles of how seasons change </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">and the remembering of spring -</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">to be the open invitation</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">to be wild again</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">renewed and bursting</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> like the earth herself.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">After this long wet winter of forgetting,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">out I wiggle, breaking the egg of old lazy habits, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">I rise up with the daffodils</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">open the heart of my golden cup to fill</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">with this new light of my own being.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">I am all at once again encouraged </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">to renew my vow,</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">to greet again each day, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">the promise of birthing</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">holy precious possibilities, </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">to meet the greeting of the loyal dawn </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">blessed by its renewal</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">curious and excited as to what might emerge </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">from this love…..blossoming</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">as me. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Tonijean Bernbaum</p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></body></html>