When We Talk of Showers of Fishes

From undoubted examples
Underfoot, the running stream
Is cool and full of pebbles.

You long for others and then
Again loathe them come the end
Of autumn. No one argues

Against the wind in winter,
When the undersides of grass
Hold frost into afternoons,

Even when there’s no great snow.
There’s no owl in the plum tree.
Live for sun in the window.

Everything freezes again,
And among the pines, the winds
Are whispering their own things.

Why would you want spring back soon?
You know how harsh summers are
In this desert’s years of drought.

You’re afraid you won’t see it?
Spring reveals all gleaming bones,
But aren’t snow clouds beautiful,

Dragging dreams of nonaction?
Alright, alright. Dreams want spring,
Gushers of thundershowers

Raining lizards and fishes.
But words live opposite spring,
Even as we describe it,

As we describe anything,
Lush or spare, all the seasons.
When we chant prayers, we mean them.

From undoubted examples
Underfoot, the running stream
Is cool and full of pebbles.