The Other Part of the Miracle

{First appeared in Northwest Coast Magazine, Spring 2009}

The Other Part of the Miracle

is the red-wingeds’ return, black

birds with a revel of crimson

on their shoulders, a call that sags

like a drawl, like the short-long-short

of their flight. March has finally

come. Mind you the birds perch

on cattails sprung and faded, and

the grass towering still above

the swamp is dead.

The mountains in view endure

a thin chill of snow, and

the ocean at my back grows tired

of raging. But if I stand long,

I see the birds are many,

their electric-red flashes almost

hard to believe. And the trees

that edge the wetland flush

a suggestion of chartreuse.

We have outlived one more

winter of storm and loss.

Surely miracle enough.

But the other part of the miracle

is the red-wingeds’ return.