Spring
by Marc Mangel
Spring can set suddenly and harshly
turning good desires into a puddle of mush
and not wanting to do much
of turning the anger between men into
love between men and women
turning the cold burns of winter into a
warmer burn of summer to be sun that
seems to insulate each one of us in his own
small world.
Spring can set slowly and painlessly
so quiet to be unnoticed that even the bees
forget to come out and begin their work
on the golden joy of life
so slowly that each man forgets his humanity
and remains the work machine of slavedom to
eating
And spring ca not set at all
bypassed somehow on the highway
that noone understands and for which the
AAA is missing a map and suddenly from
a wind that screeches through us biting past
the papelike coats there is a sun so hot
and smoldering that our skins cry pain and
the water we took with us many millions ago
disappears as tiny shiny drops into the
air to perhaps come down in a torrent
cause spring can set suddenly and harshly
April 1973