The past few days have been a turning of the season. After almost 10 days of below zero weather in Minnesota, we’ve seen bright sun, highs nearing 40 and the return of many birds. We are planning some open-air events in the spring (dates TBA), that will include an outdoor reading of Patrick’s book “Quitting Time”. Here’s one of the poems from that book recalling past springs:

YOU ARE IN NEARLY EVERY DAWN

You would love these cardinals

in late winter, courting from

the highest branch, the rabbits

that race the backyard snow,

sparrows who never abandon.

I sit on the porch and imagine

your face, a child I have never seen.

I have no photos of you as a boy,

no First Communion, no lost

teeth or family picnic, and yet

I see your smile as clear as wind:

a breeze that arises in the east,

messenger in a cloudless sky.