Hot Spell

oh virginia april

how you own the label

with this year's

early hot spell

followed by

a dipping vortex

and hard frost

how the leaves

and tender shoots

of young walnuts

bloodgood maples

white oaks

hang shriveled black

like ghosts of our past

flags of our despair

but then again

how clear light

and angled rays

of sun through parting

clouds and morning's

cacophonous songs

of searching chasing nesting

birds all remind us

when we fall and succumb

to prevarications

that life born

of what is good and

the love underlying

all things have never left

how trees rejuvenate

their leaves and thus

our first noble task

in the evolving environment

of our commonwealth

is to do no harm to get

out of the way and allow

the trees to do what

they know how to do

and our second imperative

is to stand firm together

resolved as one to elect

a different congress

and neuter through

the democratic process

the current president

and his soulless enablers