The first day of Spring
has me in a mood to
shake my remaining
winter blues

For months, the shutters
have been drawn tight

It’s passed time to crack
open a window and air
out my lingering stuffiness,

shed some natural light
in the corners of me where
darkness has settled

Sweep my mind clean of
the tired bones its been
chewing over

Scrub out the ring that has
formed around the tub from
my wallowing in self-
pity a little too long

Finally release all the
negativity, resentment,
comparison, and doubt I’ve
kept boxed up in my closet

And dust off the gratitude
I’ve been slacking on
practicing – break myself away

from the screen and out into
the bluebird day tugging on
my hair

Already I feel lighter, the
air somehow easier to breathe

I sense my internal scales
leveling again, the heaviness
lifting from my chest like
a melting snowdrift

A moon of many names is
rising tonight: crow,
sugar, worm

Its sign the same for all of us
returning to life beneath it

Who were sure we would
suffocate beneath another
year of our own dirt

Who, in our winter, have
denied our spring

She rouses within us now,
unoffended

Brings with her on the thawing
horizon an answer to our
prayers for a fresh start.

– mrg