ANNUNCIATION

Up north here April
is swell time when the bergenia
begins to burgeon, the redbud
blossoms into pink.

This is seed time season.
No fool my father whose
deadline for peas in his garden
was the month's first day.

Spring is sing time.
To true and would-be believers,
the Virgin breaks into Magnificat,
precursor to an angel chorus.

Come and walk a time with me
in the woods where bloodroot
flowers announce that earth

is still a quickened womb.